The Gillard government has announced that the National Broadband Network will spend $620 million on two new satellites to connect some of Australia's most remote towns.
The satellites will be built in California and are due in service in 2015.
According to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, they will provide "dedicated broadband services for the most remote 3 per cent of houses in Australia".
The contract is part of $2 billion the NBN plans to spend on delivering satellite services to areas outside the reach of its high-speed cables.
At a Canberra press conference, Prime Minister Julia Gillard told journalists: "We won't be leaving those Australians who live in the remotest parts of Australia, behind."
In her press statement, the Prime Minister says the satellites combined with fibre networks will deliver "universal broadband coverage across the entire Australian continent, and its external territories for the first time".
"In conjunction with the fibre and fixed-wireless networks, the satellites mean that when completed, NBN Co will be able to offer peak speeds of 12 megabit per second download / 1 megabit per second upload, at uniform national wholesale prices, to every home and business in Australia."
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull called the satellite announcement ''typical of an approach to the project which pays no regard to financial circumstances.''
''It could not cost any more. Whatever aspect of the NBN you consider, the government is taking the most expensive approach.''
In an afternoon media conference, Mr Turnbull also claimed industry sources had told him the satellites ''will have substantial surplus capacity, that is to say they'll have a lot of transponders that won't be needed.''
''What is that spare capacity going to be used for? Are we going to see yet again, mission creep?'
Ms Gillard also addressed the issue of subsidies for car manufacturing in her press conference today, dismissing criticism of the government's $1.5 billion support after meeting manufacturers in Canberra today.
She said that a strong car industry was in the national interest, because it provided skills and innovation to the wider manufacturing sector.
The Prime Minister said there was a lot of ''lazy talk'' in the media about the government's approach and that the car industry was not an ''old industry''.
''Car manufacturing needs to be part our [economic] future,'' she said.
Ms Gillard said that with 200,000 jobs reliant on the car industry, government support for car manufacturing was about more than its 46,000 employees.
''The decision we made there was, 'is it in the nation's interest to have these skills and technologies available in our supply chain and in our manufacturing sector?' '' she said.
Today, Ms Gillard sent a message to representatives of the automotive industry to assure them of the government's support.
''As Prime Minister, I wanted to write to you personally to let you know that I am determined to secure a strong and sustainable future for manufacturing in this country,'' she said in the letter.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union was also due to meet opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella today, in a bid to reverse the Coalition's pledge to cut $500 million in government funding to the car sector.
AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver said workers in the industry were pleased that the government's programs were delivering results.
In the past fortnight both Holden and Toyota have announced job cuts at Australian plants despite the government's financial support.
- with Judith Ireland
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