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Gold Coast

This project funded the Gold Coast City Council to employ a fulltime broker on a demand aggregation strategy for the Gold Coast hinterland.

When the project started, only 30 per cent of the population in this HiBIS eligible area of the hinterland had access to broadband.

The demand aggregation strategy was called ‘Broadening Broadband: Connecting Your Place'.

• Its first step was community awareness and demand aggregation: finding out about the needs of the community and communications issues in the hinterland and rural areas, and building a business case for connectivity.
• The next step was the expression of interest and selection process, including assessing the proposals and facilitating meetings between prospective providers and community representatives.
• Then came rollout and connectivity: overseeing and monitoring the rollout of infrastructure, making the community aware that the new services were available.
• Connections were monitored and the process was evaluated.

Achievements

• Nine exchanges have been ADSL-enabled.
• Five wireless providers (OntheNet, Broadband2u, Allegro, Airweb Connect, CommsLogic) are now operating in the region.
• About 95 per cent of people in the region now have access to broadband.
• About 30 new communities received broadband during the project.
• Entry level broadband is $29.95 per month.
• Entry level data rates are 256 kbps.
• VOIP services are available.

Document ID: 41105 | Last modified: 6 February 2008, 12:32pm