NBN Co has so far received 3000 orders for its new satellite service, delivered via the first Sky Muster satellite just over two weeks after launching the services, regional communications minister Fiona Nash has announced.

And “that number is increasing every day,” Nash said at a CommsDay forum in Sydney. She added that NBN expects to perform up to 10,000 Sky Muster activations per month later this year.

Users of the older – and very slow – interim satellite solution (ISS) will be migrated onto Sky Muster in parallel with new users, with the full migration expected to take 10 to 12 months, she said.

She added that the second Sky Muster satellite is currently in Palo Alto, California, where it has now completed final pre-launch testing and is currently having its solar panels and antennas installed.

With the second satellite flying, NBN expects to eventually see 200,000 to 250,000 households and businesses in rural or remote Australia taking up the system.

Users who have already signed up are said to be experiencing speeds of up to 25Mbps.