There had been plans to build fixed wireless towers at both Mystery Bay and Tilba, but now the tower for Mystery Bay had been abandoned and the company was reviewing the proposed tower for Tilba, where residents at the latest proposed location at Brushgrove Lane are objecting.

Kelly Stevens, NSW Corporate Affairs Manager for nbn co, said it all had to do with the difficult terrain at Mystery Bay and it was deemed residents would be better served by the satellite service.

This all happened to be timed to the national announcement on Friday of the launching of the nbn Skymuster satellite service across Australia, where residents in remote locations not served by fixed wireless or fixed line network can now apply for the satellite service.

There is also a fixed wireless tower at Wonga Road, Nangudga that will service residents in the south Narooma area.

Meanwhile, nbn co has announced that the series of fixed wireless towers around the Bermagui, Cobargo and Wallaga Lake areas are now live and residents can apply for that service.

An additional, 1223 homes and businesses in this area are now able to connect to our fixed wireless technology, with four new towers recently switched on. Ms Stevens said.

The Wallaga Lake tower will service 432 premises, the Bermagui Town tower 276, a tower at Coolagolite will service 103 homes and businesses in parts of the area and the Cobargo tower will allow 412 premises to connect.

Work on connecting 1000 homes and business in Bermagui to nbn fixed line network is scheduled for 2017.

To make the switch to fast and reliable broadband, all you need to do is check your address on the nbn website and if eligible contact your preferred service provider to order a service. Go to www.nbnco.com.au/switch

The rollout of the nbn™ network continues to gather momentum; nearly 2 million families and businesses are currently able to connect across the country. nbn’s goal is to have 8 million homes and businesses signed up to the network by 2020.

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NBN internet towers opposed at Bermagui, Tilba, Narooma

nbn on Friday successfully launched its first commercial broadband satellite services, aimed at bridging the digital divide and paving the way for better broadband for rural, regional and remote NSW. Since blasting 36,000kms into space on October 1 last year, the satellite and 10 nbn ground stations, including two in NSW, have undergone significant technical testing and user trials ahead of the commercial launch.

The service is expected to provide wholesale speeds significantly faster than those currently available now to around 400,000 premises across the country – with around 120,000 of those in NSW. nbn Chief Customer Officer John Simon said the state-of-the-art Sky Muster™ satellite is designed to provide access to fast broadband for many areas that have never had it before.

“The nbn Sky Muster™ satellite service will make a truly transformational difference to rural and remote Australians as we offer some of the world’s fastest and largest consumer satellite broadband plans to remote and isolated areas of Australia,” he said. “Broadband is essential for modern living. People in remote and isolated parts of the country will be better able to run their businesses, learn, stay in touch with friends and family and access new tele-health services online. Australia is a uniquely vast country, making online connections increasingly critical. “

We have teamed up with our delivery partners and now have a field force of over 600 trained technicians ready to connect homes around the country. It will take some time to get all eligible premises connected due to the sheer size of our 7.69 million km2 country, so we ask for patience as our teams travel around to install the service.”

Mr Simon said the launch of the Sky Muster™ satellite service is all part of nbn’s goal of connecting eight million homes and businesses to fast broadband access by 2020.

“This is a proud day for us as it’s an important delivery milestone for nbn and rural Australia, and we are being recognised for our dedicated approach to remote households offering up to four times faster speeds and three to six times more data than existing consumer satellite services offering great value for end users,” he said.

In its new report Satellite Broadband: A Global Comparison telecoms research firm Ovum has found that when measured in terms of data allowance, download speed, upload speed and affordability that selected plans on the nbn Sky Muster™ service are world leading for satellite broadband services. Ovum examined eighteen retail service providers internationally that offer satellite broadband services and found that selected plans based on nbn’s Sky Muster™ service delivered outstanding results across all service requirements, establishing itself as a world leader that will deliver a great service for regional and remote Australians.

nbn NSW Corporate Affairs Manager Kelly Stevens said it was an exciting day for rural, regional and remote Australia. “For so long, those living in some parts of NSW have not had adequate broadband to take advantage of everything that having good access to the internet offers. “With Sky Muster™ they will be able to access services that people living in the middle of the city can get.

“But we know that while being able to stream Netflix and have your whole family online at once is great, for a lot of people living in regional centres they’re just looking forward to getting reliable internet access to do their banking, run their businesses and educate their children.”

Ms Stevens said the commercial launch was an exciting milestone and urged residents and businesses eligible to connect to contact a retail service provider to discuss their particular needs. Sky Muster™ is designed to deliver wholesale speeds of up to 25/5Mbps*** and data allowances of up to 150GB per month. Internet service providers will provide retail plans at different price points and data allowances, so eligible resident and businesses can choose a plan that best suits their needs. There are currently over 34,000 users on the interim satellite service across Australia and 13,000 of those live in NSW. The nbn™ is aiming to migrate interim satellite users onto the new satellite within one year of the service being commercially available, while at the same time migrating new users onto the service.

Those eligible for the nbn’s fixed wireless service are being urged to sign on via their preferred service provider and take advantage of world-leading broadband speeds in regional NSW.

As the number of active users on nbn’s Fixed Wireless service across the nation hit 100,000 this week, nbn data showed that those in NSW were slow to take up the service when it was made available to them. In NSW there are currently over 105,000 premises able to be connected to the nbn™ fixed wireless network. Of those, only 28,000, or just over a quarter of eligible homes and businesses, have signed on to a service.

Kelly Stevens, NSW Corporate Affairs Manager urged those eligible to sign up to services over the nbn™ fixed wireless network and take advantage of fast and reliable broadband.

“nbn has over 110 retail service providers listed on our website, meaning that people on nbn™ fixed wireless technology will have access to a great choice of providers, so they can find a plan that suits their needs,” she said. “Those in regional centres across NSW have been crying out for improved internet services for many years, and yet now that the nbn™ network is available, they are slow to take up services.

This sort of broadband access has never been seen before in regional NSW, and the benefits for families and businesses are wide ranging. For businesses, every form of online interaction will be improved and for families, multiple users can be online using multiple devices at the same time.” Ms Stevens encouraged those in regional NSW to check their address on the nbn™ website to see if they are eligible for Fixed Wireless access, even if they are currently on the interim satellite service.”

Our records show that a number of premises currently on the interim satellite are eligible for an nbn™ fixed wireless service right now,” she said. Using radio signals from nbn wireless facilities (or base stations), the technology delivers access to fast broadband by transmitting data to equipment professionally installed outside and inside the home.”

Generally, the equipment is currently installed at no cost to the end user. End users should ask their preferred provider if they have any other fees.

The technology is designed to provide access to wholesale speeds of 25-50 Mbps download and 5-20 Mbps upload .** nbn data shows that of the 100,000 premises currently using the service, 82 per cent have signed on to 25/5 Mbps wholesale speed plans and 17 per cent have 12/1Mbps wholesale speed plans.** Only one per cent of users have chosen the 25-50/5-20Mbps wholesale speed plan.**