Part of the government's National Broadband Network plan, the $250 million injection to create new backhaul links in regional areas, could start construction by September this year.
NBN Tasmania has awarded Corning Cable Systems its second deal to supply the state's fibre optic cable to connect around 5000 homes by mid-2010 under the $38 million initial phase of the project.
Internet service providers (ISP), mobile telcos, and bidders for the $250 million regional backhaul build have welcomed the launch of the initiative, but questions remain over whether the plan will deliver competition.
The Federal Government and NBN Co ditched plans to establish a joint venture operation with Tasmanian state-owned utility, Aurora Energy, because it was delaying the construction of the state's fibre network.
Over the coming weeks Nextgen boss Phil Sykes will be touting a new pricing regime for regional backhaul, which the telecoms industry hopes will undercut Telstra's pricing.
The potential acquisition of Pipe Networks by SP Telemedia has raised the question about whether vertically integrated backhaul providers will mean higher wholesale prices for ISP customers.
Rural areas will be welcoming the government's decision to put its money where its politicising is, funnelling $250m into a regional fibre upgrade to six rural centres. Remedying over a decade of near-neglect at the hands of telecoms privatisation, the investment could be the firmest step yet for Labor's NBN dream but with inevitable political questions and a looming election, Rudd and Conroy need to deliver, and quickly, to preserve the NBN's credibility.
Why the National Broadband Network should be free, and other stories from another day of the Senate Select Committee on the Rudd Government's telco infrastructure baby.
Faced with a renewed threat in newly-appointed Tony Abbott and unknown-quantity communications portfolio ankle-biter Tony Smith, Stephen Conroy responded this week in the way any politician would: he gave lots, and lots, and lots of speeches.
In today's Twisted Wire, Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett explains his vision for a broadband enabled Tasmania, that will "leapfrog every other nation on earth".
The Rudd Government's decision to build its own broadband network significantly cranks up the threat to Telstra's dominance in the telecommunications sector.
Mike Quigley and Doug Campbell's long-standing relationships with Telstra and few of its rivals will lead Australia's telecommunications industry to question privately whether Telstra will receive a phenomenal level of access to the NBN decision-making processes.
2008 was a cracker year for telco in Australia, with so many huge events happening that those at the beginning of the year have been drowned by the importance of those at the end.
Reading Telstra's submission to the government on NBN regulation is a bit like reading a combination of Dicken's David Copperfield, specifically the simpering character known as Uriah Heep, and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
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