$600m to fund large scale regional broadband projects

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:04

IT Policy - Regulation

• Announcements

The program will encourage: major commercial investment as part of proposed projects providing broadband services in under-served areas; new commercial investment or the contribution of existing infrastructure to enable broadband service provision to areas and premises that are already commercially viable, including as a result of past financial support from the Australian Government; and provision of advanced higher speed broadband coverage, on a fully commercial basis, both in the Broadband Connect area and in those parts of the Broadband Connect Metropolitan Exclusion Area (MEA) which may be unlikely to gain access to such services within a reasonable timeframe.

The Government anticipates that players will form consortia to bid for the funding and encourages them to do so. One such, AUSalliance between Soul, Austar and Unwired, has already been announced.

Also, applicants are "strongly encouraged to structure their applications to present a range of options for consideration by the Government." The guidelines suggest that applicants could present a range of options for the geographic coverage of their proposed project, such as a national option and others for smaller areas.

Applicants are also encouraged to propose a range of services from the minimum required to be compliant (metro-equivalent) through to higher capacity services. Applications close on 30 November.

The first phase of the $878m Broadband Connect programme was a per-customer subsidy paid to Internet service providers who connect customers in areas where a broadband connection is hard to get. This program will continue while the infrastructure-based program is developed, and the Government says appropriate transitional arrangements will be put in place. The Government claims it has already resulted in more than one million extra broadband connections in Australia.