NBN contracts to buy two satellites without the orbital slots to fly them in – should we be concerned?
We have had an interesting discussion in the NBN Committee today with Mr Quigley and the Department of Broadband about the fact that the NBN Co has entered into a $660 million contract to buy two satellites for the NBN without having obtained an allocation of the orbital slots in which those satellites would fly.
My best summary of Mr Quigley’s position regarding the satellites and the fact that the orbital slots for those satellites have not yet been allocated is set out below.
1. Slots have not been allocated yet, but they have been applied for.
2 The slot is an important input in the design of the satellite so in the absence of formal allocation, an assumption is made as to the slots expected to be allocated.
3. The NBN Co and the Department of Broadband are very confident they will be allocated.
4. Quigley says it isn’t without precedent to launch a satellite into a slot without a formal allocation
but
5. While the NBN Co does not expect that it will launch a satellite prior to the the orbital slot being formally allocated and the Department of Broadband’s advice is that the ITU will allocate the slots, nonetheless Quigley despite several opportunities to do so declined to put the matter beyond doubt by saying categorically that the NBN WILL NOT launch the satellite prior to the formal allocation of the orbital slot. He says this slot allocation risk factor ” doesn’t keep me awake at night”
Most people would have assumed that before agreeing to buy two satellites for $660 million, the design of which is directly affected by the orbital slot in which they will fly, the NBN Co would have secured the necessary orbital slots and certainly completely rule out any possibility of launching the satellites without the slots being formally allocated.
After all, if the orbital slot is an important assumption in the design of the satellite, and if the slot assumed in the design is not the one ultimately granted, there would presumably be additional costs to take into account the new slot and potential delays depending on how long the grant of the new slot actually took.
It will be interesting to see what the satellite community has to say about this – is it really a risk of such a miniscule nature that Mr Quigley is right not to lose a moment’s sleep about it? Or is it important when you invest $660 million of the taxpayers’ money you take a rigorous belt and braces approach to all of the legal requirements?
24 Responses to “NBN contracts to buy two satellites without the orbital slots to fly them in – should we be concerned?”
Why would any of this be surprising. It is completely in accord with normal Labor Party policy to do everything arse up. They don’t care they well know that it will an LNP Govt that will have to fix there stuff-ups so why would they bother with such trivial and troublesome matters as governance? That’s Labor! SNAFU
Why would any of this be surprising. It is completely in accord with normal Labor Party policy to do everything arse up. They don’t care, they well know that it will an LNP Govt that will have to fix their stuff-ups so why would they bother with such trivial and troublesome matters as governance? That’s Labor! SNAFU (Corrected spelling)
Actually, the truth be know, Stephen Conjob, has a talk in Bob Brown’s ear, and Bob is having a chat with his Alien friends, and they will fly around in their flying saucers and bump other satellites out of the way, to give a clear path…
What is more of a concern about this satalite is there has been NO talk of the ground station!!!!!!!!
Can one just send up satellites willy nilly in a slot of your choice provided there is not another one in the vicinity on a first up first stayer basis? that appears to be the case in my interpretation of the above. In which case just hurry up ……unless only the North Korean are interested in the slot….
Malcolm forget about the nbn
when are you challenging abnbott
Malcolm
Tell these gullible coalition supports how opel with the taxpayers money wanted to put up satellites wiht no slots
Mr Abbott,
I listened to the question you posed Mr Quigley. You seemed to miss two very important points.
1. If we do indeed wait for offocial allocation this could delay any launch and improvement in our national communications infrastructure by several years. For a government that claims ‘faster broadband faster’ this is incredibly disingenous.
2. Mr Quigley made it clear that the risk of the slot not being allocated is minor, and even if problems do arise alternative mechanisms are in place. That is they can enter negotiations is which case orbital slots can be negotiated upon.
Also just out of clarification where were you when you decided to do that tweet? story is your thought it up on the john.
Mr Turnbull, who is the question in the title directed at? Should we be concerned? Or are you just trying to create FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) ? I understand Mr Quigley is an extremely experienced and capable telco executive. Do you actually have any reason to doubt him? Or just going for the Fox News style headline i.e. raise a leading question without any real substance?
[...] has since softened his position to “should we be concerned?” about lack of orbits. Comments on that post are mixed in their assessment of whether or not [...]
Will the blind, disingenuous criticism ever end, Malcolm?
You attack the NBN for being rushed, then complain they are rolling out too slowly.
You complained that the NBN prices would be too high, then when they were released, your partner-in-crime Paul Fletcher complained that the prices were too low.
You complain that the NBN isn’t needed, then complain that not enough of the rollout has occurred in Coalition seats.
You attack the NBN for not “prioritising rural areas”, then when they let a 3-year build contract for satellites to better serve rural areas, you complain that they haven’t spent several more years negotiating for slots, before letting a contract for satellites that will take several years to build. Perhaps your argument might hold more weight if we were talking about the congested skies over North America, but over Australia it’s simply not an issue.
I suppose if they had done so, you’d instead be complaining that the launch of the satellites has been delayed?
Perhaps the best analogy here is: Complaining the NBN hasn’t finalised orbit slots before ordering the satellites is like complaining that you haven’t pre-booked a parking spot at the shops before you buy a car.
We should not be concerned in the slightest that the orbital slot process is not completed – because this is what happens with every Clark Belt satellite.
If you’d actually LISTENED to Quigley yesterday – (and even you stated you didn’t know a lot about satellite comms) – the slots have been chosen, but – (as with most planning processes) – other parties have to have time to raise objections in case something has been overlooked in the slot/frequency/spot beam design considerations.
Satellites are not fixed in one location once they are launched. If a change to slot has to be made – (INCREDIBLY unlikely) – they can be moved.
One of the original Aussat/Optus A-series satellites was moved into a slot over Europe for crying out loud.
Me thinks you doth protest far too much Malcolm – about something you don’t understand.
[...] [...]
WunderbareSeite hier – ich denke auch dass das so gemacht werden sollte.
National Broadband is Nation Building and you know it!
[...] “Most people would have assumed that before agreeing to buy two satellites for $660 million, the design of which is directly affected by the orbital slot in which they will fly, NBN Co would have secured the necessary orbital slots and certainly completely rule out any possibility of launching the satellites without the slots being formally allocated,” said Turnbull in a statement following the hearings. [...]
The ITU (the international organisation responsible for allocating satellite slots) has not publicly refuted the entire basis of Mr Turnbull’s claims. As have a series of international satellite experts, including those responsible for operating the Optus fleet of satellites.
“The ITU statement refutes utterly the suggestion that NBN Co is taking ‘highly unusual risks’ by signing contracts to build and launch satellites ‘without securing their orbital parking spots first’. Anyone suggesting otherwise either does not understand the process or is being disingenuous.”
Once again Malcolm, your NBN criticisms have been shown to be nothing but hot air.
http://nbnco.com.au/news-and-events/news/satellite-plans-on-track.html
It’s certainly seems that even the ITU don’t think there’s anything “wrong” or “incorrect” going on:
http://www.zdnet.com.au/nbn-co-gets-itu-backing-on-satellite-plans-339336181.htm
Consider this NBN Co’s right of reply, surely you would not deny such a response Malcolm?
http://www.nbnco.com.au/news-and-events/news/satellite-plans-on-track.html
Some excerpts
“Advice received overnight from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says it is not uncommon for a company such as NBN Co to purchase satellites before having finalised their positions in orbit over Australia.”
“It is possible for a company to purchase a satellite in advance of it being put into use and the orbital slots being finalised.”
“In order to secure those slots the notifying authority, which in Australia is the Australian Communications and Media Authority, needs to (a) initialise the registration procedure with the ITU, and (b) resolve any major compatibility issues with operators of neighbouring satellites.”
“So long as there are no regional objections and the ITU registration process is underway an operator can proceed with its launch plans.”
[...] [...]
Just more waste and incompetence, well sniffed out Mr Turnbull
Except Ann, if you had read the posts above, the ITU (the group responsible for allocating satellite orbit slots) has publicly stated that NBN Co are undertaking the process correctly.
They are doing absolutely nothing wrong.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/421883/nbn_satellites_right_trajectory_launch_united_nations_communications_agency_/#closeme
[...] was just wrong, and still refuses to admit it, making even more noise about it on his personal blog, despite being shown to be completely wrong. He clearly knows very little about what he was trying [...]
It would be nice if the pro-NBNers could just stick to facts.
Fact: When Malcolm asked Quigley about the slots, the process for obtaining them had not even started – just read carefully what Quigley said.
Fact: After the committe hearing, NBN.co mad a mad dash and approached the ITU regarding slots. The ITU advised NBN.co that they must do this through ATMA… duh!
Is this something that should raise eyebrows? Of course it should. We are talking about $2billion of taxpayers money that is going into the satellite program… and again we see sheer incompetence.