ARN

Government kills OPEL broadband network

Stephen Conroy terminates $958m funding offer.

The federal government has terminated the funding for the OPEL broadband network.

OPEL, a joint venture between Optus and Elders, was to have been allocated $958 million for the construction of a rural and regional broadband network under a deal by the Howard government.

However, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said OPEL failed to meet the terms of the contract.

Senator Conroy said the Rudd government would honour the contract with OPEL on the proviso it provided coverage "reasonably equivalent to 90 percent of under-served premises identified by the then Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts as being within its coverage area".

"DBCDE performed an analysis of the detailed testing and mapping undertaken by OPEL, and determined that the OPEL network would cover only 72 percent of identified under-served premises," Conroy said.

Conroy's comments come after Optus parent, Singapore Telecommunications Limited issued a release to the ASX this morning.

"Optus and Elders maintain that all conditions precedent to the funding agreement have been satisfied. The OPEL network was capable of meeting the objectives of the government's Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program and delivering improved services to 889,322 unreserved premises in rural and regional Australia within 2 years at metro-comparable prices," read the SingTel statement.

Since the government's announcement last June, Optus claims to have spent $15 million in operating expenses and capital expenditure on the project.

With the OPEL plan dead, Labor will now focus its attentions on its $4.7 billion National Broadband Network. The NBN, a partnership with the private sector, plans to deliver broadband to 98 percent of Australians within five years.

Come socialise with us! Facebook | LinkedIn

More about: Billion, Department of Communications, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Singtel
References show all

Comments

1

vguhmjujg

Tue 10/03/2009 - 18:53

axfeaRRUkACv

OQXefQ <a href="http://onrsfjhnbmyo.com/">onrsfjhnbmyo</a>, [url=http://xmijwfuiboto.com/]xmijwfuiboto[/url], [link=http://zfqipwwihudn.com/]zfqipwwihudn[/link], http://bvzzyllptcub.com/

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
Leader Computers , The IPL Group , Westan , XiT Distribution
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/synnex/2012-02-08_422_power-up-your-thinkpad-offer
Synnex

Power Up Your Thinkpad Offer!

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.