Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I bring good news. I am very happy to be able to advise the chamber that, after a one-day delay occasioned by inclement weather in French Guiana, Sky Muster II successfully launched last Thursday. It would be fair to say that 'Thunderbirds are go'! Sky Muster II is now 36,000 kilometres above us. It is going to undergo several months of testing before it is in customer service. As colleagues would know, this is the sister satellite to Sky Muster I; and it will raise the NBN's satellite network capacity to 135 gigabits per second, which is about 30 times the capacity of Labor's appalling interim satellite service.

Sky Muster I has been in commercial use since May; Sky Muster II will significantly augment its capacity. Sky Muster I, Sky Muster II and the fixed wireless rollout of the NBN are a very practical demonstration of the NBN's premise, which is that no Australian will be left behind when it comes to good broadband connection. Already 30,000 Australians in regional areas are connected to Sky Muster. Sky Muster covers 400,000 premises around the nation, and ultimately we expect that around 200,000 people will hook up to sky muster. This is a good story—in contrast to that of Labor's interim satellite service, where $351 million was spent. They said 250,000 people would be able to hook up; they only had enough capacity for 45,000 people. (Time expired)