NewSat wins $2m WA broadband contract

Stuart Corner
Monday, 15 October 2007 07:15

Business IT - Networking

NewSat has beaten Optus to win a $1.98 million contract to provide broadband satellite services to communities in the Kimberley region of WA.

According to the WA Government, "The Kimberley Broadband Solutions project is a $1.8 million joint initiative between the State and Federal Governments announced in mid 2005 with the aim of providing broadband to seven sites: Wirrimanu (Balgo), Fitzroy Crossing, Yungngora (Noonkanbah), Looma and Camballin, Kalumburu, Kununurra and Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) - were nominated as mandatory in the tender."

The tender for the project closed on 30 August 2006. There were three tenderers for the contract: the Endeavour Connect Consortium (which included NewSat), Optus and BroadbandNet Pty Ltd. However the contract has been awarded to NewSat alone.

NewSat issued a statement to the ASX on 11 October saying it was "in the final stages of negotiations with the Western Australian Government on a contract to deliver broadband services to the Kimberley region via NewSat's satellite network. Both the Australian Government and the Western Australian Government will be providing funding to support the initiative, subject to the finalisation of those negotiations. At this stage, the precise terms of the initiative are still being finalised but it is anticipated that NewSat Limited and the respective Governments should be in a position to make more detailed statements in the near future."
iTWire understands that the official announcement is due to be made by NewSat in about 10 days time.

NewSat would not comment further. However, when asked about the company's relationship with Endeavour Connect, VP sales, Mike Kenneally, said: "We expect that Endeavour Connect will become a sales alliance member in the project."

Endeavour Connect is a licensed carrier that bills itself as a 100 percent Australian owned and operated full service communications company that offers a range of products and services to the business community." It operates on a franchise basis and was founded by Mark Bentham and Chris Collinge, the latter the founder of ISP Techex, acquired by Destra. It is headquartered in Sydney.