NBN Co believes its network build will be halfway complete by the end of this financial year, as its roll out moves into metropolitan areas.
As of January 5, 2017, NBN's footprint included 3.8 million premises. However, only 1.6 million premises have activated their connection. By the end of June, it expects up to 5.4 million homes will be passed.
![NBN's footprint currently includes roughly 3.8 million premises. However, only 1.6 million premises have activated ...](/web/20170118064101im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/o/5/p/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtszm3.png/1484693893987.jpg)
"This will be a significant turning point as we aim to finish the build by 2020 and become the first fully-connected continent in the world," NBN's chief executive Bill Morrow said.
"As the NBN network rolls out into cities we will be met with new problems to solve," he added.
![Qantas will roll out in-flight Wi-Fi using signals from NBN Co's SkyMuster satellite during 2017.](/web/20170118064101im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/q/z/z/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtszm3.png/1484693893987.jpg)
Up in the air, Qantas says it will start testing free in-flight Wi-Fi connected to NBN Co's Sky Muster satellite on domestic flights within weeks, after NBN Co agreed to a nine-month proof of concept test. The broadband is expected to be fast enough to stream video, television and live sports.
Qantas and its technology partner ViaSat's trial, which will last until September, will assess whether an "aeronautical mobile satellite service" works well enough to expand and commercialise.
An NBN spokesman said tests will ensure Sky Muster customers on the ground get priority over people in the sky. However, NBN Co has two satellites in the air and there is idle capacity that can be sold to "maximise the taxpayer investment in the satellite service".
Virgin Australia has also announced plans to provide in-flight Wi-Fi, but has not yet revealed whether this involves NBN Co's satellite.
![NBN Co owns two Ka-band satellites that will service up to 400,000 Australians in remote areas.](/web/20170118064101im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/y/7/d/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtszm3.png/1484693893987.jpg)
So far just one Qantas Boeing 737 – call sign VH-XZB – has been modified to provide in-flight Wi-Fi. It took 10 engineers 900 hours to attach the 200-kilogram antenna. Qantas has about 85 Boeing 737s in its fleet.
The agreement with NBN Co confirms all internet traffic passing through Sky Muster will be subject to Australian law, including interception and data retention rules.
Don Buchman, vice-president and general manager of ViaSat's Commercial Mobility business, said by 2019 ViaSat will be ready to sell round-the-world in-flight broadband by leaping between Ka-band satellites. This way planes can pick up signals continuously as they fly across the globe. He also noted each passenger will get speeds similar to today's fixed broadband.
"This is not a shared service to the plane," Mr Buchman told Fairfax Media.
"ViaSat has provided Qantas a 12 megabits per second [Mbps] service level agreement to each connected device on the plane. ViaSat's high capacity Ka-band in-flight internet service delivers the highest-speed connections and highest-quality streaming video experiences to each passenger's connected device."
Qantas ran a Wi-Fi trial in 2012 on its A380, but found low take up, probably because it was slow, not free and customers preferred to sleep on international flights.
A spokesman said it expects better take up on shorter domestic flights.
"The technology we're using makes us confident that we'll be able to provide a fast internet connection to passengers," the Qantas spokesman said.
"It will be enough to comfortably stream video and given we're offering it for free, we expect take up to be strong".
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