Stephen Conroy, Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, has set 26-November-2008 as the closing date for the submission of National Broadband Network proposals.
The Government issued its Request for Proposals for the National Broadband Network on 11-April-2008. The closing time has been amended to account for time taken by the Government to necessarily work with carriers to ensure that proponents have access to information about existing networks and time to consider it. The intention is that this will help them prepare robust, competitive proposals.
Key provisions of this RFP issued in April include the ability to:
- deliver minimum download speeds of 12 Mbps to 98% of Australian homes and businesses;
- have the network rolled out and made operational progressively over five years using fibre-to-the-node or fibre-to-the-premises technology;
- support high quality voice, data and video services including symmetric applications such as high-definition video-conferencing;
- earn the Commonwealth a return on its investment;
- facilitate competition in the telecommunications sector through open access arrangements that allow all service providers access to the network on equivalent terms; and
- enable uniform and affordable retail prices to consumers, no matter where they live.
