The work of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts touches lives across the country every day as we strive to connect Australians, enrich our communities and empower our regions.

The Government established the Regional Broadband Scheme (RBS) to ensure transparent and sustainable funding for essential broadband services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

NBN Co's fixed wireless and satellite networks provide broadband access to around one million homes and businesses across regional Australia. However, these networks are very expensive and were estimated to incur significant net losses. The RBS is designed to cover NBN Co’s net losses of constructing and operating these networks.