Information and Communication Technology in Antarctica

Abstract

The Australian Antarctic Division has a long history of providing telecommunications as part of the support provided to expeditioners within the Australian Antarctic Territory. Since the days when Mawson’s expedition in 1911 setup the first transmitter at Commonwealth Bay, the Division has provided continuous and increasingly sophisticated telecommunications capability that now includes data to support medical services, science, education and Internet access. The provision of telecommunications to Antarctica relies on satellite transmission for backhaul.