Pegasus Networks was the first public

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, commencing in June 1989 with local access, and moving to nationwide access from 14 September 1989. It acted as a "gateway" to emerging online networks working in the fields of environment, labor, peace, women's and the human rights movement. It offered Australia-wide access via X25 networks and initially used

UUCP UUCP is an acronym of Unix-to-Unix Copy. The term generally refers to a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers. A command named is one of the prog ...

and TCP/IP connections to the United States to exchange mail and newsgroup content, initially via direct dialup to the United States, and later via ACSNet. Pegasus' foundation CEO was Ian Peter. Pegasus Networks offered public dialup access to the Internet in Australia. The launch video features early use of mobile phones for internet access and solar powered computer facilities. Pegasus operated initially from

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and later from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Pegasus Networks was active in establishing connectivity to countries in

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

with partners such as Pactok, Sarawak Access and the Email Center in the Philippines. Australian projects included the national sub-networks CouncilNet, ArtsNet and International Education and Resource Network (iEARN)
APC
trading a
Community Communications Online (c2o)
of Australia, founded in 1997, was founded "to continue support for progressive networking activities in the

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

region after the closure of Pegasus Networks." Pegasus was a founding member of the

Association for Progressive Communications The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace ...

(APC).

References

Companies established in 1989 Defunct telecommunications companies of Australia Internet service providers of Australia {{Australia-company-stub