Thursday, 22 January 2004

A National Broadband Strategy A National Broadband Strategy Background The independent Regional Telecommunications Inquiry (RTI) report provides a comprehensive assessment of telecommunications services in regional Australia, and makes recommendations on arrangements to ensure that regional, rural and remote Australia can share in the benefits of new technologies. The Government has accepted all 39 recommendations made by the Inquiry. Recommendation 6.3 proposed the establishment of an incentive scheme for the provision of higher bandwidth services to regional, rural and remote areas, to enable all Australians to have access to services at prices comparable to those prevailing in metropolitan areas. Recommendation 6.4 proposed that the Government provide further support to communities to undertake demand aggregation strategies, and other activities that would support the take-up of higher bandwidth services. In response to these recommendations, the Government will develop a $142.8 million National Broadband Strategy focusing on the broadband needs of regional Australians, in partnership with all levels of government. The key elements of the strategy are: $2.9 million over four years for a national coordination mechanism, the National Broadband Strategy Implementation Group, over four years; $107.8 million over four years for the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HBIS); $8.4 million to support demand aggregation in regional Australia through funding of demand aggregation brokers; and $23.7 million in catalytic funding over four years to accelerate the rollout of broadband into regional Australia using key sectors such as health education and local government as anchor tenants. 5:23:17 PM

HiBis HiBIS is a $107.8 million initiative of the Australian Government to promote equitable and affordable access to higher bandwidth and broadband services in regional Australia. HiBIS will do this by providing registered service providers with incentive payments to supply broadband services in regional, rural and remote areas at prices comparable to those available in metropolitan areas. HiBIS is scheduled to commence in early 2004. 5:20:19 PM