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Connect South West
The South West Community Broadband Broker was appointed by the Connect Southwest Association (CSW) to educate the community on the benefits of broadband services, aggregate demand and negotiate broadband options on behalf of each community in 12 local government areas in south-western Western Australia .
The community broker worked with the CSW to develop a demand aggregation model. Under this model the broker ran an awareness program to educate communities on the benefits of broadband and identify local champions who would promote demand aggregation.
These local champions helped develop demand registers that were later presented to the carriers as a part of the overall business case for broadband enablement. Preference was given to registering demand to meet Telstra's ADSL thresholds, as this served a greater number of customers and enable backbone capacity for future wireless deployments.
The broker analysed the state of demand in communities that were beyond the reach of ADSL services or that had insufficient latent demand to build a business case for ADSL service.
Working closely with these communities, the broker was able to develop a whole-of-region business case identifying the relevant demand clusters and local infrastructure.
The next step was an expression of interest and memorandum of understanding process to engage a suitable carrier. Two wireless operators (Broadband Net and Oceans Broadband) were selected to ensure wireless was rolled out across the region.
The geography of the region presented a key challenge to the project, impeding the development of backhaul solutions. The broker worked hard with service providers to identify existing tower infrastructure to support wireless backhaul options and overcome these barriers.
The project also highlighted the importance of:
- using local people as champions to gather information on supply;
- taking time with expressions of interest to engage an appropriate service provider;
- educating the community in understanding different technologies; and
- strategic roll-out of broadband services to achieve a sustainable solution.
Achievements
Thirty-four communities across the south-western WA will have broadband as a result of DAB.
- Ten exchanges have been ADSL-enabled.
- Eight communities now have non-DSL solutions (wireless).
- New services are currently being provided to a further 16 communities.
ADSL had been taken up by more than 140 people by December 2005. Figures for wireless take-up are not available.
Broadband prices have fallen to $29 per month. For most residents and businesses satellite was the only broadband option before the DAB.
Services such as VOIP are not yet available, but they are planned for the future.