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2 April 2008
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has released a statement saying the OPEL contract had been terminated because the Networks' Implementation Plan failed to meet the terms of a contract made with the previous Government.
The Minister said the decision was based on analysis by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DBCDE).
“DBCDE performed an analysis of the detailed testing and mapping undertaken by OPEL, and determined that the OPEL network would cover only 72% of identified under-served premises,” Senator Conroy said.
“On the basis of DBCDE's assessment, the Government determined that OPEL's Implementation Plan did not satisfy the condition precedent of the funding agreement, and as a result the contract has been terminated.”
Read the Minister's media release:
* OPEL Networks Funding Agreement not to proceed
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OPEL contract terminated
2 April 2008
The Federal Government has terminated the $958 million funding agreement with SingTel Optus and its partner Elders in the OPEL broadband agreement.
SingTel Optus and Elders' parent company have made statements to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) confirming the Government has cancelled the almost $1 billion contract to build a broadband network.
SingTel Optus's statement to the ASX said the Government advised that it considers the conditions of the contract "have not been satisfied and has terminated the funding agreement".
According to reports online from The Age the statements issued to the stock exchange said the contract cancellation came after an assessment that the implementation plan did not meet prescribed coverage requirements. The government also was concerned that networks would be duplicated as it has proposed its own fibre-to-the-node broadband plan, according to the statements.
Telstra Country Wide® Group Managing Director, Mr Geoff Booth, today welcomed the decision.
Mr Booth said it was a commonsense decision as the OPEL plan failed to meet the fundamental requirements of the funding and would have done nothing to increase the availability of broadband access in rural and remote Australia.
"The previous Government's decision was made as a result of poor process and delivered little for regional Australia.
“It’s now time to put this mess behind us and move on. Telstra, the Federal Government and the industry as a whole need to look forward and come up with a realistic and achievable holistic solution for getting broadband to all Australians with 21st century technology."
As a result of the Federal Government's decision Telstra's legal proceedings to access documents relevant to the previous Government's decision on the Broadband Connect tender will now come to an end.
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