The Ngaanyatjarra Lands Telecommunications Project: A Quest for Broadband in the Western Desert

Vast regions in Australia still have limited access to adequate telecommunications. With the rollout of the National Broadband Network underway, remote Indigenous Australia risks being left out, increasing its isolation and widening the ‘digital divide’. In the past, the vast Ngaanyatjarra Lands of south-eastern Western Australia have had one of the poorest levels of telecommunications service in Australia. However, the regional shire, land council and the community media organisation have worked together with the WA Government to address this problem. This effective collaboration led to the Ngaanyatjarra Lands Telecommunications Project (NLTP): a fibre optic network connecting six remote desert communities, a broadband satellite solution to connect the remaining six outer communities and community-wide WiFi in all twelve sites. This article describes the process of creating the NLTP and some of the flow-on benefits for the region and Yarnangu (Ngaanyatjarra people).