Queensland premier Peter Beattie over the weekend unveiled a AU$550 million plan to bring 100Mbps broadband to Brisbane through a deployment of fibre to the home technology.
"The federal government has failed to deliver ultra high-speed broadband services to the general community," Beattie said in a statement issued late yesterday.
"That's why our government is stepping in to work with the private sector in Brisbane to address this market failure which is holding back business development and innovation."
Beattie said the state would seek expressions of interest from the private sector to gauge interest in funding the project. The fibre would initially be deployed in the Brisbane local government area, using existing assets such as pipes, electricity poles and road and rail infrastructure.
The project may also extend to other areas.
"If the project proved successful in Brisbane, there may be future opportunities to rollout similar solutions across the rest of the state," said Beattie.
The state will take expressions of interest from the private sector from November until the end of January.
Great! Those of us in regional areas who have nothing faster than ISDN are overjoyed that metroplitan dwellers will have yet another high speed broadband option.