Minister for Regional Communications Bridget McKenzie and Senator for the Northern Territory Nigel Scullion have welcomed NBN Co’s launch of its Sky Muster multicast services trial in schools across the Northern Territory, enhancing online learning for students in remote areas.
The new multicast technology allows remote students to participate in virtual classrooms in high-resolution from home, helping to close the education gap between rural students and their urban counterparts.
“Today’s trial launch is great step forward for students and teachers in the Northern Territory. Learning in these remote locations will now be easier thanks to Sky Muster’s multicast technology, giving students and teachers access to online learning through clear audio, high resolution video and the ability to share large files,” Minister Scullion said.
“The trial of the broadband service will span over three months in 15 locations across the Northern Territory, including the School of the Air in Alice Springs, Katherine and Ludmilla, maximising its reach to students.”
Minister McKenzie said the Government and NBN Co are focused on prioritising the delivery of fast, reliable broadband services to students and teachers in rural and regional locations.
“Ensuring every student receives the best learning opportunities is a high priority for the Government, whether learning in remote classrooms or via distance education and the NBN is helping us to make this a reality.
“Multicast allows schools to send data once to one place, and NBN Co then distributes it to everyone that is listening – rather than having it being distributed many times over. This will allow students to participate from home without interfering with their standard broadband connection.
“Subject to the results of the trial, NBN Co plans to roll out the technology to regional and remote locations across Australia from mid-2018. The Coalition is committed to ensuring that people living in regional Australia are able to harness the opportunities of 21st Century communications” Minister McKenzie said.
NBN Co’s Sky Muster is already providing eligible distance education students with access to additional data allowances of 50 Gigabytes per month to help them make the most of their studies.
More information on the NBN Sky Muster Satellite service is available at: www.nbnco.com.au