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The Australian Government has scrapped its national broadband tender process and decided to build it themselves. They said none of the tenders were value for money so they are going to roll out the fibre which will give aussies broadband of 100 megabits per second to 90% of the population.


Federal Government to build national broadband network
THE Federal Government has announced the "largest infrastructure decision in Australia's history" after deciding not to award the national broadband network contract to a company.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Government would lead the development of a national fibre-to-the-home broadband network up to "100 times faster than what many people use now".

The ambitious project will take up to eight years, cost $43 billion, create tens of thousands of jobs and will see fibre-optic cable laid out to individual houses.

The fibre-optic network, providing speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, will cover 90 per cent of Australians, while the rest will have access to a mix of wireless and satellite connections.

'Broadband backwater'

Mr Rudd said this morning that it was time to tackle the issue of internet access in Australia.

"Years of failed policy have left Australia as a broadband backwater," he said.

"This new super fast national broadband network is the single largest national building project in Australia's history."

Mr Rudd said the project would support 25,000 jobs per year.

Construction would begin in the middle of the year and take "seven to eight years", he said.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the decision was "a historic moment for Australia's telecommunications sector".

However Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull questioned whether the plan was commercially viable.

"If, as the industry analysts say, this would require households who are currently paying say between $40 and $50 a month for broadband, to pay $150 a month for broadband, where is the evidence households will do that?" Mr Turnbull asked.

"Where is the evidence that this can actually be a commercial venture?"

Proposals scrapped

Mr Rudd said none of the private sector proposals to build the network had met the Government's requirements.

Australia's largest telco, Telstra, had been excluded from the process after it failed to meet tender guidelines.

Instead, the Government would create its own company to build the network, Mr Rudd said.

The new company would be part-owned by the private sector, but the Government would retain a majority share until the network was completed.

The company was expected to invest up to $43 billion in the network.

Senator Conroy said Telstra would be invited to take part in the new process.

About 15 minutes after the press conference, Mr Rudd updated his Twitter account.

"Just announced biggest ever investment in Australian broadband really exciting, infrastructure for the future," he said.

Fibre to the home

"Fibre to the home", or "fibre to the premises", means that fibre optic cable will be laid out all the way to individual buildings.

Mr Rudd said the network would reach 90 per cent of Australians and deliver speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

People in areas the network didn't reach would have access to a combination of wireless and satellite connections.

State blackout

On the same day Mr Rudd announced the plan, the Northern Territory was plunged into a communications black hole.

A Telstra spokesperson said mobile and internet services were down across the state after two hardware faults.

STD calls were also affected. Customers were only able to make and receive local calls on their landlines.