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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-11 Daily Xml
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OPEL BROADBAND NETWORK

In reply to the Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (3 April 2008).

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business): The Minister for Science and Information Economy has provided the following information:

In the case of the OPEL project, for reasons of probity, the Commonwealth did not consult or convey information to the State Government. The Commonwealth provided information about its decision by way of a public media release which explained that a condition precedent of the funding agreement was the requirement to provide a specified level of coverage. The Commonwealth Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy assessed OPEL’s Implementation Plan and determined that the Plan would not achieve the required coverage.

Telecommunications matters are generally the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government. The State Government, however, is committed to providing assistance, wherever possible, with the rollout of broadband services to South Australia.

The State Government’s approach to broadband services in regional areas has been focused on region-wide plans jointly developed through the cooperation of regional community organisations, telecommunications providers and all levels of government. The recent success of the Yorke Peninsula broadband project is a prime example of this collaborative model delivering much-needed broadband services.

The recently announced Commonwealth Government fibre-to-the-node project has a requirement to provide coverage of 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses. It is not possible to comment on the service provided by this project because the Request for Proposals was released on 11 April 2008 and, due to issues regarding access to network information, the closing date has not yet been determined.

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