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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-10 Daily Xml
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WiMAX BROADBAND SERVICE

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (16:28): An interesting article in the local City Messenger highlighted opposing realities for two South Australian country centres regarding access and ease of communication. While farmers and townspeople in the Mid North were ruing the breakdown of telephone and communication services for a period of four weeks, people across Yorke Peninsula were celebrating the opening of the new region-wide WiMAX broadband service.

In a milestone event, Yorke Peninsula has become one of the nation's first communities to successfully achieve a region-wide broadband service using WiMAX wireless technology. WiMAX, for those Luddites like myself, stands for world interoperable microwave access, as provided in those large grey drum-like dishes suspended on tall towers that are commonly seen in rural areas. In addition to existing wire services servicing towns across the peninsula, the new service offers almost 100 per cent broadband internet coverage. This new technological deployment means that people living beyond the reach of telephone-delivered ADSL services now enjoy fast, reliable internet access at the same cost and system speed as city subscribers to the Net. This peninsula-wide broadbanding is the result of a decade's hard work by the District Council of Yorke Peninsula and the Yorke Regional Development Board, effectively bringing together a unique and successful collaboration of government at three levels as well as the private sector.

Under the authority and auspices of the 2004 federal government CCIF and HiBIS schemes and the state government of South Australia's broadband scheme, together with the substantial contributions of both the council and the private company, Agile/Internode, stage 1 was launched by the Premier in 2005, with the stage 2 roll out to customer connections in February 2008. Coupled with its ADSL services in 11 towns, Internode's WiMAX service now reaches across the entire peninsula, and some of the important improvements and benefits include untimed local calls to Adelaide and other locations across Australia; dependable high-speed access for businesses, health providers and residents to internet services; and the connection of isolated rural homesteads and businesses to high quality and reliable internet services with internet speeds across the peninsula comparable to the metropolitan areas of Australia.

Yorke Peninsula is the first region-wide wireless network in Australia to use the new WiMAX wireless technology, and the words of the mayor of the District Council of Yorke Peninsula capture the excitement and importance of this successful collaboration. He said:

Not only has access to broadband had a huge social impact on the Yorke Peninsula community, it has transformed the way we do business and will continue to have an incredible impact on the economic future of this region.

Of the economic benefits the mayor refers to, a study commissioned by DFEEST (co-funded by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and undertaken by Systems Knowledge Concepts Pty Ltd) has estimated that the deployment of broadband on Yorke Peninsula will provide $21.4 million over five years, with statewide benefits as a whole amounting to $25.5 million over the same period.

I point out that the Minlaton celebration to mark the culmination of this project was officiated by minister Paul Caica, South Australian Minister for Science and Information Economy, and the federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy. Also participating were other project partners Mr Simon Hackett, managing director of Internode, Mr Ricki Bruhn, CEO of the District Council of Yorke Peninsula, and Mr Ray Agnew, the mayor of the District Council of Yorke Peninsula. Naturally, the member for Goyder, Stephen Griffiths, was also present.

The culmination ceremony was more than an official occasion for those mentioned; it was also a presentation to the public of services offered through the broadband network. The comprehensive offering in the information session program throughout the afternoon is far too broad to mention; suffice it to say that over 800 businesses and household premises on Yorke Peninsula now take advantage of these services, and there is more on the way. The state government, which to date has contributed $3.5 million to regional broadband infrastructure programs, has further regional broadband projects in the Murray Mallee, Fleurieu Peninsula and the Adelaide Hills.

In closing, I congratulate all the parties involved in the successful completion of the Yorke Peninsula broadband service and note the commitment of the Labor government to the people living and working in rural and regional South Australia.

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