Optus has joined Telstra in offering Starlink to its customers, in a significant boost for the Elon Musk-owned company.
The news that Australia’s two largest telecommunications companies are now supporting low Earth orbit (LEO) internet access will also be a further blow to NBN’s rival service, Sky Muster, which uses traditional geostationary satellites.
Optus is now an “authorized reseller” of Starlink and will be able to offer the service to business customers.
“Optus business and enterprise customers will have data prioritized, adding extra resilience during extreme weather conditions, with priority fixed or on-the-go mobility offerings, so customers can be confident they will have the bandwidth when they need it most, whether that’s in regional Australia or outside metropolitan areas,” said Optus Corporate Vice President Ben Vella.
“Optus satellite internet for business is a key form of redundancy providing permanent backup protection against fire, flood and natural disasters. »
LEO satellite constellations, such as Starlink, tend to offer faster services than traditional geostationary satellites, such as NBN Muster, because they are closer to Earth.
However, the lower height also means that LEOs effectively cover a smaller area and therefore must operate in larger, connected constellations to be effective.
Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, has the advantage of being able to launch thousands of satellites without paying external customers because it operates its own reusable rockets. It is currently estimated that there are more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
The news comes days after the federal government announced it would commission a trial into the effectiveness of LEO services.
Scyne Advisory will test the satellites’ ability to provide voice services to people in remote areas, as well as their ability to operate in bad weather.
A government document, released alongside the announcement, suggests satellites could one day replace traditional copper wires for voice calls, but struggle to cope with poor weather conditions.
“The community remains concerned about the reliability and performance of LEOSat services, particularly in a universal service context,” the report said.
“Some consumers have highlighted potential concerns about Starlink’s poor performance in bad weather. [particularly heavy rain] and their individual experiences of frequent service interruptions and abandonments.
“Some contributions indicated that they were more supportive of LEOSats as a redundancy option where other terrestrial networks are available, but were concerned that remote consumers would have to rely solely on a LEOSat network for voice and broadband, especially in areas without reliable mobile coverage.
“Trials of alternative technologies, including LEOSats, aimed at establishing a transparent and independent body of evidence on whether these networks are capable of delivering the required levels of service in regional and remote areas are being deployed.
“This will bring together quantitative data on a range of topics to help understand how services operate in different conditions across Australia, including how they are impacted by location, weather, climate, topography, equipment and power supply.”
Optus’ offering of ‘traditional’ Starlink comes ahead of its ambitious longer-term plan to offer a ‘direct to mobile’ service to those living in remote or regional areas.
This story was originally published on Cyber Daily’s sister brand, Spatial connection.
