The government's plan for bush WiMax coverage may well have hit a hurdle, after concerns over an ongoing court case with Telstra reportedly led to a delay in signing the contract with OPEL to build the network.
Telstra today lost its court battle to see confidential documents belonging to Communications Minister Helen Coonan, which related to a government decision to allocate almost AU$1 billion to a rival.
Telstra has lodged a complaint against the Communications Minister Helen Coonan over the funding of the AU$1 billion WiMax network intended to bring broadband to bush users across Australia.
Communications Minister Helen Coonan fought back today against attacks on the government's WiMax and fibre to the node plans, saying that opponents had sought to cloud the broadband debate.
The federal government has defended itself over concerns raised by the Centre for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) about the availability, speed and price of broadband in Australia.
Bill Murray's weeks spent in the purgatory of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania -- depicted in the amusing movie Groundhog Day -- have become a cultural sounding point, mentioned in passing to describe a situation where someone is stuck in the same painful, unresolvable situation day after day.
If there was ever evidence that the stoush over broadband had gotten personal, it came when Telstra's sour-grapes mentality led it to sue Helen Coonan, personally, for claimed procedural flaws in the OPEL contract.
Post-election adrenaline surging through his veins, one of the first acts performed by new Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was to disband the expert panel that his predecessor Helen Coonan had appointed last June to evaluate tenders for fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) construction.
Much has been made of Telstra's decision to finally stop holding Australia to ransom, and to actually turn on the ADSL2+ equipment it has installed in what is apparently over 900 of its exchanges around the country.
One of the real dangers of election season -- for politicians, at least -- is being held to their word.
With only weeks to go to the election, how are the main parties shaping up on their tech promises?
When the government announced that Optus and Elders had won the bid to build Australia's bush broadband network, it provoked jeers and plaudits alike, but it was the ISPs' choice of WiMax as the bearer technology that has provoked the most furious storm of argument. Just how will the technology stand up to life in the bush?
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