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Feds Fund Satellite Broadband For Remote Australia |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Saturday, 26 August 2006 |
The Federal Government has offered A$876 million to
subsidise broadband for rural Australia
via the Ipstar satellite service.
The funding will come from the previously announced Broadband
Connect program.
Speaking at the AgQuip expo in Gunnedah, in north-western
New South Wales Community Services Minister, John Cobb said: "Basically,
in one stroke it has dealt with broadband for country people," according
to reports.
The recently launched dedicated IP satellite will make broadband
a reality for up to 700,000 people living in rural Australia at cost effective rates.
The high speed connections are priced from $29.95 per month.
The American IPSTAR Broadband Satellite System funded by
Thai company Shin Satellite will dedicate up to 12 per cent of its satellite capacity
to servicing Australian customers.
More than just data services, the satellite system will pave
the way for VoIP telephony services in remote areas and could spark demand for
IPTV services.
"What this satellite system is going to do is provide a
service to those people who can't get any form of broadband or high speed
Internet access and open up a few other areas like voiceover IP," said
Cobb.
"But the big thing that this is going to open it up for
is video on demand and video conferencing as well as the ability to open it up
for educational and training purposes."
The Shin Corp satellite is the world's first purpose-built
Internet satellite. Five years in development, the geo synchronous satellite hovers
somewhere above the equator.
The services are available in Australia from resellers including Macquarie Telecom, Australian Private Networks and CMS Technology.
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