NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, has signed a deal worth $184 million over 10 years with Speedcast International to deliver wholesale business satellite services to regional and remote Australia.
The services are expected to be available by the early part of next year.
A statement from the company said it had enlisted Speedcast's subsidiary Speedcast Managed Services to develop the services using NBN Co's Sky Muster satellites.
NBN Co has two Sky Muster satellites in service with total capacity of 240,000 active services in regional and remote parts of the country.
{loadposition sam08}There are 84,000 active services and about 1000 take up service every month.
The company said the provision of these satellite services had been part of its business plan since 2014 would not have any effect on its provision of residential services.
Speedcast is an Australian company that specialises in satellite communications technology.
“We are honoured and grateful to have been chosen for such an important programme and we are excited to play a part in expanding the communication services available in Australia," said Pierre-Jean Beylier, chief executive of Speedcast.
"This contract is another huge success for Speedcast in our efforts to provide next-generation communications solutions to our clients and partners around the world.
“I thank NBN Co for their trust in Speedcast’s ability to deliver reliable communications services enabling mission-critical applications that enterprise and government customers rely on; something we are passionate about and have been doing very successfully in Australia for many years as well as in over 100 countries around the world.”
The company said that it was the largest provider of satellite communication services to enterprises in Australia and globally.
NBN Co has said that it will complete the rollout of the network to all premises that do not pose issues by 2020.