Nonthaburi, Thailand – THAICOM Public Company Limited’s subsidiary, IPSTAR Australia Pty Ltd (IPA) has signed a contract with NBN Company Limited (NBN Co) for Australia’s National Broadband Network’s Interim Satellite Service, which will commence from July 1 onwards. The contract is valued at AUD$100 million over a period of five years with an option to extend. This represents a major win for IPSTAR Australia. Arak Cholatanon, chief executive officer of THAICOM said, “We are honoured that THAICOM 4 (IPSTAR) has been selected as part of Australia’s National Broadband Network plan. The NBN Co Interim Satellite service really demonstrates what can be achieved in Asia Pacific when Governments proactively address rural and remote user’s needs.” IPA will begin providing the THAICOM-4 (IPSTAR) bandwidth to NBN Co within 2011. NBN Co has also entered into a separate agreement with OPTUS as the managed service provider using Gilat satellite ground equipment. This Interim Satellite Service will enable NBN Co to wholesale high speed broadband services via satellite to providers who service rural areas of Australia. The offering will be capable of peak speeds of 6Mbps forward and 1Mbps return.