Government boosts bush broadband subsidy for ISPs

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 02 July 2008 07:42

Business IT - Networking

The Australian government has thrown its weight behind the provision of broadband for regional and rural dwellers by allocating a significant boost in subsidies for customers. Subsidies of up to $6000 per customer will be provided by the latest version of the federal government's Australian Broadband Guarantee.

The guarantee revolves around the concept of "metro-comparable" services, defined as being a minimum of 512/128kbps).

Under the guarantee, ISPs must provide a data allowance of at least 3G per month (with no peak/off-peak limits or other restrictions) for a total cost of $2500 over three years, including any installation and connection charges.

ISPs may also offer 'entry level services' running at a minimum of 256/64kbps and 500M per month, and 'added value services' providing at least 1024/256kbps and 5G per month downloads (the data limit on the other plans can be applied to uploads and downloads).

No maximum prices for entry level or added value services are specified by the scheme, only that they reflects the subsidy and are "reasonable" relative to the price of normal service under the guarantee.

"Consumers will benefit through the implementation of standard contract clauses, new requirements for repair and maintenance and a requirement to either shape excess data or charge no more than five cents per megabyte beyond the data cap," Senator Conroy said.

The idea of limiting excess data charges under the scheme will be welcomed, but a fee of over $50 per gigabyte is still a fair slug.

Customers will likely welcome other standard terms mandated by the government - please read on for examples.