Broadband

Mr Fletcher asked the Minister representing the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in writing, on 16 August 2011.

Will the satellite services that will be offered by NBN Co. Ltd have the capacity to deliver the applications that are currently delivered over satellite for interactive distance learning at the School of the Air and the Northern Territory Open Education Centre in the Northern Territory; if so, will these interactive distance learning services continue to receive government funding.

Mr Albanese: The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

Mr Jim Hassell, Head of Product Development and Sales at NBN Co, advised in response to a Joint Committee on the NBN hearing on 27 July 2011 that the Interim Satellite Service would not affect the satellite network currently used by the Northern Territory School of the Air. Mr Hassell stated that:

What they've already got in place, as I understand it anyway, is that they have the separate School of the Air network... It's not run over a standard network, it's a separate piece of infrastructure, it's a separate satellite dish that people have in their own homes and it's a completely separate service which is actually been designed to deliver remote education.

With our interim solution we had to take internet capacity which is currently available in the market and use that. But when we launch our own we have greatly increased the capacity and we build on that our business grade services which is a whole range of kind of different service level commitment which allows you to give that kind of service.

(www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-01/school-of-the-air-faces-long-wait-for-nbn-benefits/2818784).

The Long Term Satellite Service will provide service improvements and support videoconferencing and large file transfers. It will have the capacity to support a range of consumer and business grade services, including interactive distance learning services such as School of the Air. As outlined in NBN Co's Corporate Plan, the Long Term Satellite Service will be engineered to deliver high-speed broadband services by using Ka-band satellites to deliver peak download speeds of 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 1 Mbps. It is expected these services will provide a broadband experience equivalent to, or better than, what many people now experience on ADSL.

Further, NBN Co is also investigating the introduction of higher upload speeds of 2 Mbps with a roadmap of 4 Mbps to support business services.

Attachment A can be obtained from the House of Representatives Table Office provides an NBN Co information paper regarding e-health Services in Indigenous Communities and further details the expected capabilities and benefits of the Long Term Satellite Solution. This paper notes that the final long term satellite product feature set and network capabilities will be determined once vendor selection and contracts have been finalised.

Funding for School of the Air is a responsibility of State and Territory Governments.