NBN Co inks $300m satellite launch contract with Arianespace

NBN Co will this morning confirm that it has signed a AU$300 million deal with French company Arianespace to provide two rockets for the launch of two satellites for the National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2015.

The Herald Sun reported today that the company will build two 777-tonne rockets to launch the two AU$620 million Ka-band satellites, which will be used to provide broadband services to the 3 percent of the population outside of the fibre and fixed-wireless footprints of the NBN.

The satellites will also provide services for Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Macquarie Island, and the Cocos Islands.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will make the announcement at NBN Co's offices in North Sydney at 10:30am.

The newspaper reported that NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley has indicated that school children will help pick the names of the two satellites as part of a competition to be held by the government-owned company.

Last month, NBN Co announced that the maximum speeds on offer on the satellite and fixed wireless services on the NBN had been more than doubled from 12 megabits per second (Mbps) down and 1Mbps up to 25Mbps down and 5Mbps up.