7 July 2005
$50 million in extra HiBIS funds for broadband in the bush
The Government has committed a further $50 million to help connect broadband in rural and regional Australia, bringing total funding for the popular HiBIS program to almost $160 million, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced today.
The additional $50 million for HiBIS brings total Government spending on rural and regional telecommunications services to more than $1 billion.
“The Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS), which provides incentives payments to Internet service providers for each HiBIS service connected, has been a great success both with customers and with providers,” Senator Coonan said.
“In the past 12 months more than 600 regional communities have been connected to terrestrial broadband services, such as ADSL and wireless, as a direct result of HiBIS.
“HiBIS has been so successful that the Government will commit an extra $50 million on top of the original $107.8 million.”
HiBIS implements one of the recommendations of the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry (RTI)—the Estens Inquiry—to help people in regional Australia get better access to more affordable broadband.
“To date the Australian Government has spent or committed more than $235 million implementing the recommendations of the RTI Inquiry, and more than $1 billion improving telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia,” Senator Coonan said.
“Hitting the $1 billion mark is proof positive that this Government will continue to invest in regional and rural telecommunications.
“I am particularly pleased that broadband take-up in regional Australia is now keeping pace with metropolitan areas—about 20 per cent and growing.
“To date, more than 34,000 customers have HiBIS services with many more to be connected over coming months. More than half have of these customers have ADSL broadband and about a quarter are receiving a two-way satellite connection from one of the eight HiBIS satellite providers. Meanwhile, wireless broadband is becoming more popular with two thirds of HiBIS providers using wireless technology.
There are currently 33 providers registered under the Scheme and this is providing increased competition and choice in many areas of regional Australia.
Further information on the program is available at www.dcita.gov.au/hibis
|
Program |
Actual expenditure plus commitments |
|---|---|
|
Response to RTI (Estens) |
|
|
Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme |
$107.8 million |
|
Expansion of Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme |
$50.0 million |
|
Expansion of Terrestrial Mobile Phone Coverage |
$15.9 million |
|
Expansion of the Satellite Phone Handset Subsidy scheme |
$4.1 million |
|
Training and Support in IT Skills |
$10.1 million |
|
Coordinated Communications Infrastructure Fund |
$23.7 million |
|
Demand Aggregation Brokers |
$8.4 million |
|
National Broadband Strategy Implementation Group |
$2.9 million |
|
Future proofing of regional telecommunications services including future reviews |
$1.9 million |
|
ACA additional monitoring and reporting responsibilities |
$5.2 million |
|
RTI Community Information Campaign |
$5.8 million |
|
Implementation of other RTI recommendations |
$1 million |
|
Response to TSI (Besley) | |
|
Towns over 500 program |
$23.9 million |
|
Regional Mobile Phones program (including Towns under 500, Regional Highways, Satellite Phone Subsidy Scheme and WirelessWest) |
$50.5 million |
|
Internet Assistance Program |
$9.9 million |
|
National Communications Fund |
$52.2 million |
|
Consumer Representation Grants |
$3.4 million |
|
Indigenous Communications Scoping Study |
$0.4 million |
|
TSI Community Information Campaign |
$5.3 million |
|
Telecommunications Action Plan for Remote Indigenous Communities (TAPRIC) |
$8.3 million |
|
Networking the Nation | |
|
Networking the Nation |
$247.4 million |
|
Social Bonus | |
|
Local Government Fund* |
$45 million |
|
Building Additional Rural Networks* |
$34.4 million |
|
Internet Access Fund* |
$5.9 million |
|
Remote and Isolated Islands Fund* |
$18.6 million |
|
Trials for Innovative Government Electronic Regional Services (TIGERS) |
$9 million |
|
Launceston Broadband Project |
$15 million |
|
Mobile Phones on Highways |
$23.3 million |
|
Untimed Local Calls (Extended Zones) Agreement |
$154.6 million |
|
BITS Intelligent Island Program |
$40 million |
|
BITS InQbator Program (Gold Coast) |
$14.1 million |
|
Extending Mobile Phone Coverage* |
$3 million |
|
Connecting Tasmanian Schools |
$15 million |
|
TOTAL |
$1.016 billion |
* NTN Administered Social Bonus Program