GUIDELINES RELEASED FOR REGIONAL BROADBAND PROGRAM
8 April 2004
45/04The Australian Government is now calling for registrations from service providers to be part of its Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS) following the release of the program guidelines today.
The Australian Government's $107.8 million HiBIS program will give regional Australia better access to broadband services.
Through HiBIS, Internet service providers (ISPs) who register with the program can receive a one-off incentive payment for providing eligible customers in regional Australia with a higher bandwidth service at a price comparable to that in metropolitan Australia.
Customers in regional Australia who do not have access to broadband at metropolitan prices will be the beneficiaries of this major government initiative.
There will be two categories of incentive payments: a standard payment of $1540 or $3300 in areas where installing broadband access involves higher costs.
The HiBIS incentive payments will improve the business case for ISPs to invest in areas where it would not otherwise be commercially viable for them to offer services.
And ISPs will use these incentive payments to reduce the price of existing broadband services like satellite or to rollout new broadband infrastructure like ADSL or wireless local loops for small businesses, not for profit organisations and regional residents.
Under HiBIS, ISPs must offer and supply a service that provides peak data speeds of at least 256 kbps download and 64 kbps upload and a minimum monthly usage allowance of 500MB. ISPs will be required to regularly test and maintain performance levels.
Pre-existing customers will also have the opportunity to transfer their existing service to an equivalent HiBIS service at a price that meets the requirements of the scheme.
Broadband helps to deliver better services in areas like health and education for people living in regional, rural and remote areas. These services help to bridge the gap between people in the city and those living in rural areas.
HiBIS was established in response to the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry (RTI) which made 39 recommendations to make sure that people living in regional, rural and remote Australia share in the benefits of new telecommunications technologies.
The Australian Government accepted all 39 recommendations of the inquiry.
Further information regarding HiBIS will be provided to regional communities as part of the regional telecommunications information campaign which is due to commence shortly.
The HiBIS guidelines are available at www.dcita.gov.au/hibis. For further information call 1800 883 488 or email hibis@dcita.gov.au
Media Contact: Carina Tan-Van Baren (02) 6277 7480 or 0439 425 373
