From CommsDay of 27 August 2026
Our Story of the Week is an article that was published in CommsDay yesterday concerning NBN Co’s much awaited plans to retire the Sky Muster satellite service and move to the use of low earth orbiting Amazon LEO services, and related service pricing. The program will is planned to take three years for completion. Meanwhile, the growth in take-up of private satellite services, and especially of Starlink, proceeds apace.
NBN Co targets 2029 Sky Muster shutdown as Amazon Leo pricing emerges
NBN Co expects annual satellite capex to fall by 94% over the ϐive years to FY31 as it migrates customers to Amazon Leo through late 2027 and 2028, documents circulated to RSPs and obtained by CommsDay reveal.
The closure papers show NBN Co expects about 46,000 Sky Muster satellite customers to remain within its LEO serving area by the third quarter of 2027. It intends to complete their migration by the end of 2028, requiring installations to peak at about 4,000 services per month.
Formal withdrawal notices are due to be issued in the fourth quarter of this year, followed by the statutory Sky Muster withdrawal notice in the third quarter of 2027. Both Sky Muster and Sky Muster Plus would then be withdrawn in the third quarter of 2029.
NBN Co had initially targeted the end of 2027 to complete migration, but extended the timetable after retail service providers raised doubts about installation capacity, customer engagement and the geographic challenges of servicing remote Australia.
The company said its migration target remained dependent on the rollout of Amazon Leo coverage.
The company expects satellite capital spending to fall 51.8% to $57.5 million across FY27 to FY29 as it moves to Amazon’s variable-cost LEO platform. From a peak of $45.3 million last FY, annual sat capex is expected to fall to $2.7m in FY31. NBN Satellite CAPEX Forecast
ROLLING OUT FROM SOUTH TO NORTH: The LEO service is expected to become progressively available across about 300,000 eligible premises, moving generally from southern Australia to the north through multiple footprint releases. NBN Co plans to give providers a provisional list of potentially eligible premises six months before each area becomes ready for service.
Its public launch plans include uncapped 50/10Mbps and 100/20Mbps wholesale products, with testing due to start later this year and customer trials scheduled ahead of commercial availability around mid-2027.
The closure papers reveal new-customer wholesale prices of $54.87 per month for 50/10Mbps and $64.52 for 100/20Mbps, excluding GST and before CPI adjustments at launch.
Existing Sky Muster users migrating within prescribed time limits will receive transitional prices. Customers moving from Sky Muster 12/1Mbps or 25/5Mbps, or Sky Muster Plus 25/5Mbps, will pay a base wholesale price of $35.84 for 50/10Mbps.
The migration price rises to $46.08 for Sky Muster Plus 50/5Mbps users moving to 50/10Mbps. The 100/20Mbps migration tier will cost $61.71 after NBN Co selected the bottom of its previously proposed $61.71 to $66.30 range.
The introductory prices will remain available for the first two full financial years of the service, subject to annual CPI increases. NBN Co then plans above-CPI annual increases until the prices reach parity with those offered to new customers.
RSPs told NBN Co that the pricing structure was complex and could leave insufficient retail margin to compete against existing LEO services. The “dominant view” was that the new-customer commercial construct remained too tight and risked constraining adoption, according to the LEO closure paper.
NBN Co nevertheless retained its proposed prices, saying it had to balance market expectations with its regulatory, commercial and financial obligations.
STRICT MIGRATION WINDOWS: Customers must have held an active Sky Muster service for at least 90 days before LEO becomes orderable at their location to qualify for migration pricing. An order must then be placed within 90 days of availability and the old Sky Muster service disconnected within 90 days of LEO activation. Customers who miss the windows will pay new-customer prices.
NBN Co will waive Sky Muster recurring charges for the first 30 days after LEO activation, allowing customers to test the service before disconnecting. If the Sky Muster service remains active after that period, both services will be charged.
Professional installation, equipment and an integrated Wi-Fi router will be supplied without an upfront wholesale charge. NBN Co will impose a $200 equipment charge on new connections where an RSP’s disconnections exceed 10% of its connections over a 12-month period.
Industry feedback on that mechanism was “broadly negative”, according to the paper, with providers warning that it transferred risks arising from seasonal use, customer relocation, affordability and service performance.
NO CENTRAL WITHDRAWAL REGISTER: NBN Co has abandoned a proposed centrally managed register intended to track whether each Sky Muster customer had been contacted and had chosen to migrate.
RSPs supported measures to prevent customers being left behind but raised privacy, data governance and administrative concerns.
Some also warned that direct approaches by NBN Co could confuse customers and weaken established retail relationships. NBN Co accepted that RSPs should remain the primary point of contact, although it will provide common messaging, educational material and migration collateral.
Sky Muster connections have fallen from about 112,000 in September 2021 to 66,000 in March 2026, including 48,500 Sky Muster Plus services. NBN Co said the largely fixed cost of the geostationary platform made it increasingly expensive to serve a shrinking customer base.
NBN chief development officer, regional & remote Gavin Williams said “NBN LEO is part of our broader investment in regional and remote Australia. Across the country, we’re continuing to roll out full fibre and invest in the fixed wireless network, while preparing for the next generation of satellite technology.”
“NBN LEO will be progressively available to homes and businesses across the NBN satellite footprint. Additional higher-speed plans may become available over time as the service evolves. Importantly, customers will access the service through participating Australian internet providers and will be supported by NBN throughout the rollout and upgrade journey.”
Grahame Lynch
IN TODAY’S COMMSDAY (Friday 28 August 2026)
Rural Fibre Co has unveiled plans for a 728km fibre loop across Gippsland, aiming to remove what founder Phillip Britt describes as the final barrier to data centre investment in the Latrobe Valley while extending fibre connectivity to more than 200 regional towns.
One NZ and 2degrees have revealed a plan to combine their RAN infrastructure into a jointly owned wholesale business.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted almost all of NBN Co’s recent and forecast expenditure as prudent and efficient after retreating from several positions in a March draft view.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has imposed minimum NBN service standards for the first time.
Macquarie Technology Group’s telecom business recorded lower revenue and earnings in FY26, even as growth from cloud, government and data centres lifted group revenue by 5.5% to $390 million and EBITDA by 2% to $115.9 million.
Swoop “invoked its new direction” during FY26 and has entered FY27 “with a clear strategic direction,” executive chair Tony Grist said yesterday.
PT Infra Fiber Teknologi, an independent infrastructure firm formed by Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and the Arsari Group with some 86,000km of fibre assets, announced the launch of RAIA Grid, described as a “digital superhighway” for Indonesia.
Meta will pay up to US$17.1 billion to 47 US states in a court settlement over harmful content targeting children.
Recycling program MobileMuster has won the 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge for its ‘However it dies’ campaign, securing $500,000 in advertising inventory.
Akamai Technologies has appointed former CrowdStrike executive Louis Tague as regional vice president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand.
and in CommsDay’s AI Infra supplement:
The Australian Greens spokesperson for environment and communications Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has attacked a federal government decision to back away from national renewable energy requirements for data centres as a “disaster”.
Both the Smart Energy Council and the Climate Council of Australia are urging the federal government to require data centres to invest in additional clean energy generation to match the additional demand they will place on the grid.
The City of Sydney wants data centres banned or restricted where they would seriously conflict with housing delivery, neighbourhood amenity or other employment land priorities.
Dover DC is seeking Victorian government approval for a three-storey, 200MW data hall dubbed SM1B as part of its South Morang Data Centre project.
Amazon Web Services and NVIDIA said they would expand their strategic collaboration to meet demand for AI infrastructure.
Nvidia reported revenues of US$96.2 billion for the second quarter of 2026, an increase of 106% year-on-year.
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