DATA BOOST FOR SKY MUSTER SATELLITE BROADBAND SERVICES IN BARKER

Homes and businesses in Barker will soon be able to access more data on their Sky Muster satellite services, with NBN Co to provide additional broadband data from 1 April 2020.

NBN Co will offer permanent enhancements to its Sky Muster Plus offering, and a temporary increase to data allowances for standard Sky Muster plans to support the increased data needs of rural and regional Australians in response to COVID-19.

Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, welcomed NBN Co’s commitment to rural and regional Australians, particularly during the challenges arising from the spread of COVID-19.

“As we all adapt to new ways of living and working to help play our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19, we anticipate higher than usual internet usage across the NBN, including in regional and remote areas,” Minister Fletcher said.

“The extra data that NBN Co is making available over the Sky Muster satellites – both permanent enhancements adding greater flexibility on Sky Muster Plus and the short term data boost on standard Sky Muster plans – will offer relief to regional and remote communities as their internet needs change over the coming weeks.”

Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, the Hon Mark Coulton MP, thanked NBN Co for supporting regional Australians in connecting with their loved ones, essential services and the economy.

“The NBN plays a critically important role in keeping rural and regional Australians connected, and this is particularly true as we face uncertain times,” Minister Coulton said

“The new measures will undoubtedly help families access the internet for work, essential government services, education and even entertainment over the coming months.”

Member for Barker, Tony Pasin said the extra Sky Muster data will support the increased internet needs of residents and small businesses in the NBN satellite footprint.

“I know firsthand from speaking to the Barker community that internet connectivity is vitally important to how locals go about their daily lives,” Pasin said.

“With more of us staying in and relying on our home broadband for work and study, this Sky Muster data boost will make a real difference, helping us stay connected and productive over the coming months.”

Sky Muster Plus currently offers unmetered usage for selected internet essentials including web browsing, emails and internet banking. From 1 April, unmetered activities will be expanded to cover all online content and applications, with only two exclusions – video streaming and VPN traffic – which will continue to be metered.

Under the new offering, approximately 70 per cent of all data use is expected to be unmetered compared to about 30 per cent under the current plans, and the product will support unmetered usage for education applications and apps such as Skype and FaceTime for the first time.

NBN Co will also introduce a new 25GB entry plan offering 25GB of peak data and 25GB of off-peak data for households with lower data needs that still need the flexibility of unmetered data, and the option of ‘top up’ data, should customers exhaust their monthly metered data allowance, in the coming months.

In addition, NBN Co will provide satellite broadband retailers with temporary access to an additional 45 Gigabytes (GB) of download data for each standard Sky Muster plan from 31 March. This will double the average monthly download limits of plans offered by Sky Muster retailers to 90GB. NBN Co will review demand and determine the appropriate level of allocation for an extra two months.

NBN Co also recently announced retail service providers will have access to up to 40 per cent more capacity, or Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC), at no additional charge for at least three months. This applies to all NBN access technologies, including fixed wireless and the Sky Muster satellite service.

NBN Co has also committed to suspend the managed disconnection of legacy copper services to the 70 per cent of regional premises that can access the NBN via fixed line services, and to suspend all non-essential work on its fixed wireless network to minimise disruptions to services and keep regional Australians connected.

More than 6.7 million homes and businesses across Australia now have an active NBN connection and are enjoying the benefits of fast and affordable high-speed broadband.

For more information about the Sky Muster Plus satellite service visit: www.nbnco.com.au