| $50m metro broadband black spot plan finalised |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Wednesday, 08 March 2006 | |
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Communications minister, senator Helen Coonan, has released the final guidelines for the Australian Government's $50 million Metropolitan Broadband Connect program. "The program will make broadband Internet more accessible for households, small businesses and not-for-profit organisations in metropolitan and outer-metropolitan Australia that are unable to connect to affordable ADSL, cable or wireless services," Coonan said. Metro Broadband Connect subsidises ISPs via either an upfront payment for infrastructure or by a per-customer subsidy to rollout affordable broadband. Coonan said the guidelines had been prepared following extensive public consultation and she called for all interested ISPs to register with Metro Broadband Connect. A streamlined registration process may be available for ISPs already registered with the Broadband Connect program. A provisional Metro Broadband Connect demand register has been opened to enable customers to identify broadband services available to them and indicate their interest in receiving a Metro Broadband Connect service. The final program guidelines and provisional demand register can be accessed at http://www.dcita.gov.au/tel/mbc. ISPs interested in registering with Metro Broadband Connect can contact the Department by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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