Northern Beaches Council has signed a deal for broadband powered by a constellation of satellites in low earth orbit. With this new agreement with telco Vocus Satellite, the local Australian provider of Starlink, this will be the first council and first government agency in NSW to access their high-performance satellite broadband service.
Northern Beaches CEO Ray Brownlee said the move will ensure Council can continue to operate and provide critical services to the community, especially during emergencies or natural disasters.
“Satellite broadband is a real game changer for Council. It doesn’t require the traditional infrastructure of cables and fibre optics which can be disrupted during floods and fires,” Mr Brownlee said.
The integration with Starlink will improve Council’s delivery of critical services, including child-care centres and Surf Life Saving clubs. It will also help to avoid heavy costs associated with network engineers troubleshooting, unreliable network connections or black spot locations.
It will also reduce network downtime thanks to dual reliable links installed at critical locations.