Despite seeing a years growth in in a matter of weeks, the Sky Muster satellite broadband network is not only surviving, it is thriving, with unprecedented demand for new connections across Australia as rural households self isolate.
NBN Co chief development officer for regional and remote Australia Gavin Williams said the SkyMuster satellite platform had proved its capability and it was time to stop critiquing the technology.
"We are delighted at how Sky Muster has been performing, particularly over the last few weeks," he said.
"Its time to think about how that technology can be best exploited for development of the digital economy in regional Australia."
Mr Williams said last month the NBN as a wholesaler put in place increases to the amount of average peak data the internet service providers could pass on to their Sky Muster customers.
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"We also made changes to the Sky Muster Plus offering, expanding the amount of unmetered content, to the point where we think 70 per cent of internet traffic would be unmetered," he said.
Unmetering content effectively means customers can purchase a Sky Muster Plus plan from their provider and be assured they will have unlimited data for email, general internet use, education and social media, with only video streaming services and activities conducted through a virtual private network counting toward their data plan.
Mr Williams said he personally was using Sky Muster Plus to work from home through the lockdown.
"I am using Microsoft Teams, which is unmetered, and it has worked really well," he said.
Mr Williams said one of the reasons the satellite network had been able to cope with the increase in daytime demand, as people worked and schooled from home, was because it had been designed to handle the peak traffic hour in the evening.
"Networks are typically designed for busy-hour use, that means around 9pm at night when people are streaming video," he said.
"That means there is inherent head-room during the day, to cope with the increases and the situation we are seeing now."
Mr Williams said the data demand on Sky Muster was unprecedented, with over a year's growth in a matter of weeks.
"We have seen a substantial increase in new connections for Sky Muster, our gross orders have more than doubled, two-thirds of which are Sky Muster Plus," he said.
"It has put additional demand on the networks, but as a consequence of both short and longer term measures, our networks are well placed to cope with the demand."
Mr Williams said one thing that was becoming clear through the pandemic regional and rural Australia's ability to thrive through tough times.
"There is potential for the regional economy to change and have a positive effect broadly on the economy," he said.
"There are opportunities for a decentralised economy in regional Australia."
Mr Williams said there were a number of ways people could optimise their digital set up to work from home or to remote school, ensuring they got the full benefits from their Sky Muster connectivity.
"NBN has some tips for home office setup which can be found on our website," he said.