In a recent statement made by new Communications Minister 'Senator Stephen Conroy' on ABC Television, he stated that the newly formed Labor Government's goal was to have Tenders for the new National Broadband Network completed by the end of June 2008. Who ever will be awarded the Tender rights is still far from being known as Mr Conroy went on to say that no other money would be contributed on top of the $4.7 billion already on offer. However, he further added that the Government wouldn't rule out extra funding for a Tender that put forward a sufficient Fibre-to-the-Premises proposal.
"It works in very closely with Labor's initiative to put laptops into schools, and so we are very ambitious. We are very keen to hit the ground running, and we hope that we can have completed that tender process by the end of June."
"We won't be contributing any more money. We think $4.7 billion is a substantial contributing to a national broadband network, but we are not ruling it out if tenderers wish to put forward fibre-to-the-premise."
Read the entire 'Broadband tenders 'awarded by late June' at News.com.au