Optus Goes Bush For $200m In 3g Funds
The Age
Wednesday February 7, 2007
OPTUS has offered to spend $170 million to build third-generation mobile phone services in some of Australia's remotest areas in an attempt to win more funding from the Federal Government.
The telco wants to snare $200 million in funding under the Broadband Connect program, which together with its proposed spending package would pay for mobile phone towers covering 500,000 square kilometres. In making the bid, Optus is playing up its commitment last week to spend $800 million to extend its third-generation mobile network to 96 per cent of the population. "If it's very clear that this is going to provide something over and above that which they have already announced . . . then the Government would look favourably upon it," CommSec telecommunications analyst Paul Johnston said yesterday. Optus' plan to extend its coverage would only capture another 2 per cent of the population, making it uncommercial without government funding. "We believe the announcement we made last week demonstrates we are prepared to commit significant amounts of capital," Optus head of regulatory affairs Paul Fletcher said yesterday. "Despite the uninformed rhetoric of another operator (Telstra) we are investing to deliver very many services across this wide brown land." Mr Fletcher said Telstra had received $120 million for mobile phone projects in recent years, which had worked to reinforce the incumbent's monopoly of the rural areas. If the project were to go ahead, it would take Optus to similar coverage levels to Telstra's third-generation telephone network known as NextG at 98 per cent. But, as Telstra pointed out last week, Optus' third-generation service will only arrive in regional areas some years after NextG, which was launched last October. Mr Fletcher denied Optus was playing catch-up, saying: "We certainly regard this as much more than a defensive strategy." Optus' funding application was made in December.
© 2007 The Age
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