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Trio To Seek Broadband Funding |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Friday, 12 May 2006 |
AUSTAR, Unwired and Soul have formed a three-way alliance with the goal of building an alternative Broadband network.
The three plan to seek funding form the $1.1 billion Connect Australia program to put together a business plan under a single banner, AUSalliance formed specifically for the purpose.
The three don’t plan any sort of merger and each would continue to build, own and operate their own networks and businesses independently.
AUSTAR Chief Executive Officer, John Porter said, "AUSalliance's objective is to combine the existing scale, scope and expertise of the partners to deliver the `best bang' for the Connect Australia buck across as many markets as possible.
“Minister Coonan challenged the industry with Connect Australia to think big, to think partnership and co-operation, with a bigger broadband picture in mind than our individual commercial aspirations. After months of planning, we believe AUSalliance can do just that," he said.
The network would incorporate elements of DSL2+ technology, fibre and wireless technology and could be deployed in regional Australia quickly, and at a significantly lower cost than fibre focused proposals, say the companies.
Spectrum holders AUSTAR and Unwired did a deal last year that saw the two divide Australia’s restricted WiMAX spectrum in such a way that AUSTAR has access to frequencies in the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz range in the bush while Unwired controls that frequency in urban areas.
Between them they are able to cover 95 per cent of the country’s population, while Soul (formerly SP Telemedia) has the largest independent regional access network which is a fully converged voice, video and data network with 280 points of presence as well as a capital city capability.
The Alliance has formed an initial proposal for the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) to consider for funding. According to the companies it argues that funding should favour alternative infrastructure to foster greater coverage and competition; that it should only be used to extend backhaul infrastructure where existing black spots prevent commercially competitive solutions; that the provision of wholesale services should be encouraged and it acknowledges that satellite may represent the most efficient in some hard to reach areas.
Unwired Chief Executive Officer, David Spence said, "Our networks are unique because they have been purpose built for data, voice and the high speed services of the future. There are no legacy issues, no legacy dependencies, and no legacy costs.
“AUSalliance will go one step further by committing to deliver full broadband internet mobility and national and global roaming based on the international wireless broadband standard - WiMAX. No other company or alliance can deliver this future mode of technology to metropolitan and regional Australia," he said.
Michael Simmons Chief Executive Officer at Soul said: "AUSalliance leverages the strengths of each of the parties to provide a capability to build and operate high quality broadband access and back haul networks which are technology independent.
“When combined with the existing partner's networks, Connect Australia funding would enable the efficient delivery of a range of telecommunications and multi-media broadband services to regional Australians while ensuring competition at the wholesale and retail levels.
The companies already have commercial plans that aim to cover approximately 55 per cent of the Australian population. Connect Australia funding would enable each company to extend their commercial plans into under serviced regional and outer metro areas additional funding would enable them to extend their plans significantly says the proposal.
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