I'm not sure if this has been covered before but I couldn't find it anywhere, so - here goes.

The Australian government will pay 50 percent of the purchase of a satellite phone. The original offer expired at the end of last June but the scheme has been extended until 30th June 2014. The only caveat is that you need to claim that you'll be travelling in areas with no mobile phone coverage for six months in the coming two years.

For more information see Satellite Phone Subsidy Scheme