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ABC The World Today: NBN interim satellite plan disadvantaging kids in rural Australia, says advocacy group
ELEANOR HALL: Now to the frustration in rural areas around the country over the Federal Government's national broadband network. The NBN Co is rationing download allowances under its satellite plan to ensure that no-one misses out.
But the limits are so low they're affecting key services. Some students who rely on distance education are now missing out on lessons with their families reaching their monthly download limits within days, as Sara Everingham reports.
SARA EVERINGHAM: Under the rollout of the National Broadband Network, internet coverage in many rural areas is via satellite.
NBN Co introduced an interim satellite service to be used until a permanent satellite plan comes into place mid next year.
But the president of the Isolated Children's and Parents' Association Judy Newtown says there's growing concern that distance education is suffering under the interim service.
JUDY NEWTOWN: There are quite a few concerns and they're really impacting families that are doing distance education and live in more remote areas of Australia.
SARA EVERINGHAM: Part of the problem is the interim satellite service is oversubscribed so NBN Co recently imposed a uniform monthly 20-gigabyte limit on users.
But Judy Newtown says families are using that up well before the end of the month,
She and other parents travelled to Canberra last week to raise their concerns with the Federal Government.
One parent from a property near Port Augusta handed a letter to Paul Fletcher The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications.
The parent wrote she had two children in upper primary who went through their 20 gigabytes in two weeks, after that she said her children were not able to fully participate in some lessons.
Judy Newton says it's a common story.
JUDY NEWTOWN: We've got families who are saying that they're meeting those limits within two weeks of their schooling and then they're being left with really reduced speeds and the issue with that is when the children try to do their lessons online they’re getting garbled audio, or the slides won't load when the teachers are talking to them.
SARA EVERINGHAM: The Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association’s Tracey Hayes has been inundated with messages from Territory pastoralists raising similar concerns.
TRACEY HAYES: We're hearing reports of their plans being cut down to around about 25 gig and still being charged up to $70 or $80 for that.
SARA EVERINGHAM: And is this having an impact on their business?
TRACEY HAYES: Look’s it's having an impact right across the board.
In most cases, there’s one or two connections for the entire property, so this is servicing families, it’s servicing business, it’s servicing education, and it’s also servicing staff.
So as you can imagine, 25 gig, I’m hearing reports on some properties, is being utilised with the first couple of days and they’re actually spending the rest of the month without any connectivity at all.
So it’s creating enormous problems for the bush.
SARA EVERINGHAM: Paul Fletcher the Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for Communications says the problem stems from the planning for the NBN when there was a miscalculation in the number of people who could use the interim satellite service.
PAUL FLETCHER: It promised that the speeds available would be 6 megabits per second down and one megabit per second up but the problem was that it said there was capacity for 250,000 people, or premises and users, in fact there was only capacity for 48,000.
SARA EVERINGHAM: On top of that he says service providers signed up people for download limits that were never realistic.
PAUL FLETCHER: There was enough capacity on the network on average for each user to have a monthly download amount of 9 gigabytes but in fact there were companies in the market that were selling services of 60 gigabytes and more.
SARA EVERINGHAM: Paul Fletcher says the government has taken steps to fix the problem including spending $18 million to increase capacity to users by a third.
He says NBN Co has also imposed a uniform download limit so users don’t miss out.
PAUL FLETCHER: So this is about allocating the capacity fairly across all users, on the interim satellite service with a view to trying to give people a consistent and reasonable quality experience.
SARA EVERINGHAM: Mr Fletcher says the Government has also set up a working group for distance education to make sure the long-term satellite plan meets the needs of students in the bush.
He says that plan is for two new satellites to be in service mid next year providing far greater speeds and capacity - all at a cost of $2 billion.
But Tracey Hayes from the northern Territory Cattlemen's Association says 12 months is a long time to wait.
TRACEY HAYES: We’re certainly asking the Australian Government to try and find a solution as a matter or urgency for people in rural and regional communities.
ELEANOR HALL: That’s Tracey Hayes from the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association ending that report from Sara Everingham in Darwin.
