The Australian telecommunications industry will offer free wireless data for the affected spectrum watch as part of a bid to reduce demand and save taxpayers money.
The spectrum is one of the most valuable assets of the Australian Government, which relies on the sale of it to build the national broadband network.
It is also a prime target of the Government’s plan to privatise the assets.
But the National Broadband Network Co-operative has said the spectrum is still worth more than $10 billion.
And with the government’s spectrum sale due to close at the end of the year, it is not yet clear whether it will be able to pay the proceeds to its customers, as it has been in the past.
“The Government’s spectrum purchase is expected to cost the Government $4.5 billion over the next five years,” said National Broadfield Networks president Ian Walker.
“We expect this to be more than the current $3.5-billion spent in the last financial year.”
He said the government is still “in the early stages of assessing the implications of the proposed sale”.
“We are continuing to work with our stakeholders to identify what additional benefits are expected to be created,” he said.
“As part of our ongoing consultation, we have engaged the services industry to provide us with their views on how to best deliver this benefit to consumers.”‘
Spectrum has been one of Australia’s most valuable asset’The spectrum was originally set up to protect rural communities from the damage caused by high-speed mobile broadband networks.
“It was originally intended to be used for rural telecommunications and telecommunications networks, but it is now being used for the National Government’s national broadband system,” Mr Walker said.
He said spectrum will be a “big piece of equipment” for the network.
“Spectrum will provide the capacity to operate our telecommunications networks in rural Australia, including a number of rural networks across the country,” he added.
“But the value of spectrum has been greatly diminished as a result of the sale.”
Topics:government-and-politics,technology,telecommunications,broadband,business-economics-and–finance,information-and://www,federal-government,agriculture,electronic-communication,internet-technology,internet,australiaFirst posted November 11, 2019 11:17:04Contact Tim EvansMore stories from Victoria