Sky Muster satellite becomes permanent

The NBN Sky Muster satellite will take over operations by the end of February, with the interim satellite service (ISS) being shut down.

Rural and remote Australians still receiving internet through the ISS are reminded to contact their local Sky Muster provider or NBN Co to switch across to the new satellite.

“Even if the area you’re in will eventually be covered by the fixed-wireless or fibre-to-the-node network, if you’re currently on the interim satellite service then you’ll need to switch to Sky Muster in the meantime,” said Minister for Regional Communications Fiona Nash.

“Installation of the new satellite equipment is at no change, and if you later switch to the fixed-wireless or fibre-to-the-node network, there will be no charge for that installation either.”

Sky Muster is faster than the old service, providing up to 25 megabits a second.

“An internet search for Sky Muster plans will show most plans begin at $35 a month. A mid-range plan of $55 a month will get you 40 gigabytes of peak data plus another 80 gigabytes off-peak,” said Nash.

For the period of one month during peak times, a 30 GB Sky Muster satellite plan would allow customers to watch up to 10 movies, spend up to 150 hours web surfing and listen to 80 hours of internet radio.

More than 60,000 homes and businesses are now connected to Sky Muster.

The end of the old ISS comes as NBN Co announces four million Australian homes and businesses, or one-third of all premises, can now access high-speed broadband using the National Broadband Network.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Henrik Jonsson

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