Broadband Connect gets another AU$20m - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Broadband Connect gets another AU$20m

By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia
March 14, 2007
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Broadband-Connect-gets-another-AU-20m/0,130061791,339274247,00.htm

The federal government has allocated an additional AU$20 million to cover a shortfall in funding for the Broadband Connect rural broadband subsidy.

A spokesperson for the office of Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan today confirmed the extra funding, which is designed to cover existing subscriber claims for subsidies.

The move has come after the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) recently wrote to some regional ISPs advising them current, per-subscriber Broadband Connect funding was close to running out.

The government has already announced a new program -- dubbed the Broadband Guarantee -- to replace the per-subscriber aspects of Broadband Connect, however the funding shortfall had caused alarm among the ISP community due to the lack of funds available while the department was transitioning to the new program.

For example, this morning Internode said it had halted its regional broadband rollout in South Australia due to the problem.