The north coast of Christmas Island, Australia. Photo: David Stanley, Flickr

SpeedCast International has reached an agreement with the Australian government to deliver wireless and 4G network services on Christmas Island until June 30, to allow a transition period for Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) services to be installed more widely on the island.

The local Internet Service Provider (ISP) ceased to provide internet services to 1,000 locals and businesses on March 1, disconnecting one of Australia’s most remote islands. SpeedCast was notified one week ago and initiated discussions with partners and the Australian government to meet the needs of islanders.

“A team from SpeedCast will be deployed to Christmas Island this week to oversee the change and revitalize the local internet infrastructure,” said Andrew Burdall, executive vice president of enterprise and emerging markets at SpeedCast.

In order for Christmas Island residents and businesses to get internet access back rapidly, SpeedCast has arranged for disconnected internet accounts to be reactivated. All account holders will then migrate to a SpeedCast internet account over the coming weeks.

In addition, SpeedCast will be working closely with community members to evaluate providing Ka-band internet service on Christmas Island over a longer term. SpeedCast’s commercial satellite approach would complement the services of NBN. Local businesses will be able to subscribe to internet services with SpeedCast providing different speed options and committed levels of network availability.