Australian govt unveils broadband plan, funding

bealtine

Australian govt unveils broadband plan, funding


The Australian government has granted AUD 958 million in funding to the joint venture between Optus and Elders, OPEL Networks, under the Australia Connected initiative. The initiative will ensure that 99 percent of the Australian population has access to fast and affordable broadband by June 2009, communications minister Coonan said. The new, scalable network will provide 12 Mbps services by mid-2009 and the network will be further upgraded with funding assured by the government's communications fund. Parallel with the OPEL network, the government announced a new commercial fibre-optic rollout via competitive bids and subsequent enabling legislation, Coonan added. Two commercial proposals are already on the table for the fibre network.

Australia Connected involves a new national high speed wholesale network, a commercial fibre optic network, the Australian Broadband Guarantee, the BroadbandNow consumer centre, and the AUD 2 communications fund. The new ADSL2+ /fibre network will be supported with AUD 600 million in funding to cover 99 percent of the population. The roll-out has been boosted with an additional AUD 385 million. The fibre-optic network will be built in cities and larger regional centres via competitive bids and will also see legislation to enable the network. The government will establish an expert taskforce to facilitate the process. The Australian Broadband Guarantee is a safety net aiming to ensure Australians living in the most remote or difficult to reach areas (the remaining one per cent) are entitled to a broadband subsidy of AUD 2750 per household. The BroadbandNow initiative comprises a new one-stop consumer help centre with telephone and web information to assist consumers understand the technology options available to them and provide information about how to get connected. The Communications Fund will ensure AUD 2 billion is available to provide for an income stream for future upgrades.

The new national high speed network will be rolled out by OPEL, a joint venture between SingTel-backed Optus and rural group Elders, which has been awarded a total of AUD 600 million in funding from the Broadband Connect infrastructure programme, and an additional funding allocation. OPEL has agreed to make its own commercial contribution of over AUD 900 million to upscale this new network. OPEL Networks plans to use WiMAX to cover regional areas. In addition, a further 426 exchanges, representing more than three million premises, will be enabled with ADSL2+. The new OPEL network also includes 15,000 kilometres of fibre-optic backhaul to extend the broadband highways that link rural areas back to major city centres. Coonan said the retail prices for the WiMAX and ADSL2+ services will range from AUD 35 to AUD 60 per month, depending on the speed plan.

Coonan boasted the Australia Connected initiative would deliver broadband to all Australians without Labor's AUD 4.7 billion price tag. She slammed the Labor plan saying it is economically risky and still five years away. The Labor party responded to the new plan by calling it a 'quick fix', the Sydney Morning Herald writes. Opposition communications spokesperson Stephen Conroy said the new plan will not deliver 'true broadband' as Kevin Rudd's plan offers minimum speeds that are forty times faster than currently on offer.

Telecommunications firm Telstra said the Broadband Connect decision is good for Singapore but bad for Australia. The company slammed the plan saying that taxpayers' money would subsidise a foreign-owned competitor which would do little to improve communications as it relies on unproven technology and duplicates existing services. The company boasted that WiMAX is 'vastly inferior' to its Next G (HSDPA) network. Telstra further complained the government knocked back its proposal to extend ADSL broadband to around 95 percent of the Australian population. The company said it would be calling on the government to bring forward its review of the regulatory regime and for a draft of regulatory requirements to be immediately removed or reviewed.

Jumpy

For anyone who doesnt know, Telstra is Australias Eircom.
The get in the way of everything Broadband related unless it is theirs.

Australias Broadband is cheaper than here, but it has insanely small caps.
You are paying a huge amount to get similar caps to Ireland.
About 70 AUD for a 60gb.
Most of the low prices options are 5gb-10gb caps.

Sponge Bob

"99 per cent of the Australian population will have access to very fast broadband of 12 megabits per second by June 2009" is how their PM describes it but he HAS an election coming up .

in contrast , 99% of the Irish population MAY have access to 2mbits by June 2009 . It most certainly will not be 12mbits .

In australia the 'other '1% live out back...maybe 50km from their nearest neighbour . In Ireland the distances are nothing like that .

Sponge Bob

A very interesting product and access description of this new Australian FTTN network may be found here in the "Special Undertaking" pdf

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/788471

It could have profound implications for the eircom vdsl+ network in the large cities ....had we a regulator that is

bealtine

Sponge Bob wrote:

"99 per cent of the Australian population will have access to very fast broadband of 12 megabits per second by June 2009" is how their PM describes it but he HAS an election coming up .

in contrast , 99% of the Irish population MAY have access to 2mbits by June 2009 . It most certainly will not be 12mbits .

In australia the 'other '1% live out back...maybe 50km from their nearest neighbour . In Ireland the distances are nothing like that .

Didn't we just have an election too?

They (the politicians) all ducked when communications was mentioned...so we get left with crappy 2Mb speeds and really really crappy copper.
We still have the highest line rental on the planet, thanks Comreg, and the worst copper. Comreg sit on their hands pretending they can do nothing while the network gets worse and rots even further.

Sickening.


Btw that link seems incorrect...

bealtine

bealtine wrote:

Australian govt unveils broadband plan, funding

More on this :
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2102304,00.html
Broadband spreads across globe


Richard Wray, communications editor
Wednesday June 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Almost 300 million people worldwide are now accessing the internet using fast broadband connections, fuelling the growth of social networking services like MySpace and generating thousands of hours of video through websites such as YouTube.

There are more than 1.1 billion of the world's estimated 6.6 billion people online and almost a third of those are now accessing the internet on high speed lines.

According to internet consultancy Point Topic, 298 million people had broadband at the end of March and that is already estimated to have shot over 300 million. The statistics, however, paint a picture of a divided digital world.
While there are high levels of broadband penetration in Western Europe, North America and high-tech economies like South Korea, usage in developing countries and especially in Africa is pitiful.

Many of these emerging economies lack telephone services in many areas, let alone the sort of broadband internet access that has, in recent years, become available to every household in Europe.

In terms of total broadband users, the US leads the pack with over 60 million broadband subscribers. But second-placed China is fast closing the gap. From 41 million broadband users a year ago, China now has more than 56 million and based on its current growth looks set to over-take America as the world's largest broadband market later this year.

"What amazed me when compiling these figures, is that China has leapt ahead and actually had more people sign up to broadband in the first three months of this year than in any other earlier quarter," said Katja Mueller, research director at Point Topic.

China's rampant growth is a result of economic changes and government intervention. The country's economic boom has helped create an affluent urban middle class clamouring for the social aspects of internet access like chat rooms, while the government has been driving the roll-out of internet access in rural areas.

Next year's Olympics, to be held in Beijing, has already provided a fillip to the market with the government demanding that every household in the capital has high-speed internet access in time for the games.

Japan ranked third in the report, with 26.5 million broadband users as at the end of March this year, while Germany is fourth at more than 16 million. France scored the highest growth - 9% - in take-up among the top 10 broadband nations to leapfrog South Korea - at 14.1 million - to take the fifth spot with 15.3 million.

The UK came in sixth with just under 14 million broadband users at the end of March, up 6.4%. Demand in the UK market has been driven by fierce competition from satellite broadcaster Sky, which launched its broadband service last year, and the introduction of 'free' broadband offers from companies such as TalkTalk.

But in terms of broadband usage as a percentage of households, the UK's position in the global rankings slips to number 17, with 55.5% of households connecting to the internet at high speed.

Based on broadband penetration, South Korea is by far the world's top broadband user with nearly 90% of households online. Several small, economically vibrant and densely populated states are also high on the list such as Hong Kong, Monaco and Macau. The US - with broadband penetration at just under 53% - is in 24th place. Penetration in China, meanwhile, is 14.35% while in India - often mentioned in the same breath as China in discussions of emerging markets - broadband penetration stands at just 1.15% of the country's estimated 200 million households.

Penetration levels in Eastern Europe, meanwhile, may be low, but the region scored the highest overall level of growth in take-up, becoming the only geographic area to show growth of over 10%.

The region's economic rehabilitation, in part thanks to the inclusion of several states in an expanded EU, is driving take-up, according to Point Topic. Poland saw growth in new broadband connections of 9% in the first quarter, with Hungary at 10.38%, Bulgaria at 10.94%, Ukraine at nearly 15% and Croatia at a staggering 25%.

"Penetration of broadband in Eastern Europe was really low, but it is starting to catch up with Europe and we expect Eastern Europe to continue to grow," said Ms Mueller.

In fact, Indonesia scored the highest growth across the world in the first quarter - at almost 28%, but from a very low base. Greece, meanwhile was second with growth of over 26% due to the rather late introduction of broadband by incumbent operator OTE.

The figures, however, show just has large the gap is between the digital haves and have nots. Many Sub-Saharan African states do not register in the figures at all: only South Africa, Sudan, Senegal and Gabon make it onto the list, with household broadband penetration running from 1.79% in South Africa - with 215,000 users at the end of March - to just 0.05% in Sudan - with a mere 3,000. North African states fare slightly better with Morocco scoring 6.78% penetration with 418,000 users and Egypt at 1.55% or 240,000.

Many African states are now looking to the mobile phone companies to provide their populations with access to the internet, as they struggle to find a place at the digital table.

bealtine

bealtine wrote:

Australian govt unveils broadband plan, funding

and some more:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/Australia-announces-vast-national-broadband-plan/2007/06/18/1182018999327.html

Australia announces vast national broadband plan

June 18, 2007 - 2:51PM

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday announced a 2.0 billion dollar (1.68 billion US) plan to provide fast and affordable Internet access across the vast country.

Howard said Optus, the Australian offshoot of Singapore telco Singtel, had been awarded a 958-million-dollar contract to build a broadband network in the bush with rural finance company Elders.

The joint venture, known as OPEL, would contribute a further 900 million US dollars to provide broadband of at least 12 megabits per second by June 2009.

"What we have announced today is a plan that will deliver to 99 percent of the Australian population very fast and affordable broadband in just two years' time," Howard said.

An expert group will also develop a bidding process for the building of a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) broadband network, funded solely by private companies, in major cities.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan said wireless was the best option for rural Australia because it was impossible to install cables which would reach every farm and property across the country.

"It's been specially developed for rural and regional areas, where (with) fixed broadband you've got to actually run a fibre optic," she said.

Senator Coonan said the broadband speed of 12 megabits per second could "scale up" to very fast speeds as the technology evolved.

"It will be able to go much faster, up to 70 megabits a second and of course our new high-speed fibre network will be able to go up to 50," she said.

But the opposition labour Party attacked the plan, saying it was too little, too late ahead of this year's election and provided country people with a second-rate service.

"The government proposes a two-tier system -- a good system for the cities, they say, and a second-rate system for rural and regional Australia," labour leader Kevin Rudd said.

labour has proposed spending 4.7 billion US dollars to build a national fibre optic network which would cover 98 percent of the population.

The National Party, which is part of Howard's ruling Liberal/National coalition, welcomed the proposal but said it would continue to push for FTTN technology in regional areas.

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said the fact that Australia was a vast country with a small population meant it would always be playing catch-up with other countries when it came to broadband.

"We'll always be catching up, always, because we are 20 million people in a country (the size) of the United States without Alaska," he said.

© 2006 AFP