Rural and regional Australians are a step closer to high speed internet with the construction of 10 National Broadband Network satellites now completed.
NBN Co says the new satellite stations will help deliver services to 400,000 homes and businesses.
NSW is home to three ground stations while there are four in Western Australia, and one each in Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia.
Each is made up of two 13.5-metre satellite dishes.
Stations at Kalgoorlie and Wolumla have an additional two satellites each for back-up and tracking.
Satellite architect Julia Dickinson said advancing internet services in rural areas would help put Australians on a level playing field.
"With no access to any other form of commercial broadband service, some rural and regional Australians are still using dial-up internet," she said.
"No matter where you live, no home, school or business will be left behind."
NBN Co has launched a competition to mark the milestone, giving school students aged between five and 12 the chance to decorate the nose cone of the rocket that will launch the first satellite into space.
The prize winner and their school will also get to name the satellite.
Australia's internet speeds are currently ranked 44th in the world according to a report by cloud service Akamai.
ESTIMATED DOWNLOAD AND UPLOAD TIMES FOR SIMPLE WEB-BASED CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES USING A SERVICE OVER THE NBN VS DIAL-UP INTERNET:
1. Download a movie (dial up) - 3 days 10 hours 10 minutes; (NBN) - 10 minutes
2. Upload a podcast (dial-up)- 8 hours 30 minutes; (NBN) - 3 minutes 21 seconds
3. Download a YouTube video (dial-up) - 1 hour 33 minutes; (NBN) - 11 seconds
4. Open a webpage (dial-up) - 58 seconds; (NBN) - 0.13 seconds.
(Source: NBN Co)
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