Westpac may lean on LEOsats to expand banking in Indigenous communities

Westpac is in talks with Amazon to use its forthcoming Project Kuiper satellite system to make banking services more accessible, particularly in remote Indigenous communities.

Westpac's Bronwyn Dodd.

The bank’s national general manager of Indigenous banking Bronwyn Dodd told the AWS Summit Sydney that the bank began speaking to the public cloud vendor on Project Kuiper six months ago.

“Today, six months later, our conversations are deep,” she said.

“Having the opportunity to work [with] Project Kuiper has been amazing. And believe me, I thought: how does a bank work with satellites? I was extremely challenged at the beginning.

“And I have to say, when I began the conversations with Project Kuiper, it was different for them, too.”

According to Dodd, who is of the Ngarrindjeri nation, three-quarters of Indigenous people are excluded from financial services and “are lucky” to have even one bank account.

Half, she added, are deemed to have a challenging financial situation and at least 14 percent live in rural or remote communities.

As a result, they may face issues regarding access to telecommunications, electricity and devices to access digital services, as well as around digital literacy and connectivity affordability.

“We know what we need and what we want: we just need access. We need to be made inclusive,” she added.

However, in terms of any future use of Project Kuiper's satellites, Dodd said she would not make "promises we can’t commit to, because my people don’t need that anymore.”

iTnews contacted Westpac for additional comment on its plans for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, but a spokesperson declined to provide specifics.

"Westpac is committed to making financial services more inclusive for First Nations Australians," the spokesperson said.

"We’re always interested in partnering with organisations who can help bring that vision to life."

Mining and entertainment key sectors

Announced in 2018, Project Kuiper will see Amazon launch 3236 satellites into Earth’s orbit to provide high speed connectivity, using AWS’ cloud infrastructure.

Launched using 80 rockets and costing billions of dollars, Project Kuiper is touted as a rival to Starlink’s satellite-based internet services. 

Amazon launched a pair of prototype satellites for Kuiper in October 2023 and intends to carry out customer trials in "late 2024".

According to AWS principal solutions architect for Kuiper Nick Matthews, the satellite constellation will be made commercially available in mid-2025 for North America, Japan and Europe.

Commercial availability in Australia and New Zealand will follow “fairly closely” after.

Matthews said AWS intends to sell Kuiper solutions directly to consumers, government agencies, and enterprises, citing media, entertainment and mining as key sector for use cases.

Speaking during AWS Summit Sydney, Matthews reinforced Project Kuiper’s potential to boost connectivity in rural Australia, telling the audience he had stopped in Port Hedland as part of efforts to spruik Project Kuiper and potential use cases.

“I was in Port Hedland this week with all the FIFO [fly-in, fly-out] crowd, and it can be lonely out there without connectivity," he said.

“We have the same deal in the US with offshore workers. They can go weeks or months without access to their family.”