Govt picks two ISPs for rural areas

Broadcasting Engineering Services (BES), trading as e-wire, and the Regional Broadband Services (RBBS) were the two ISPs picked for the broadband rollout.

BES is a Western Australian company offering cable broadband services to greenfields land developments in the regions around Perth. Roll out of the services to areas in the south-west will start from July 2004.

BES initially installed Hybrid Fibre Coax cables (HFC) in greenfield land development sites for the reticulation of free-to-air television services. The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts said this same network will be used to deliver a "broader range of services."

RBBS, on the other hand, is a Canberra-based start-up company that delivers high speed, two-way, broadband Internet services nationally through a Direct to Home (DTH) Satellite Service to people living in regional, rural and remote Australia.

The RBBS will supply services through a ViaSat Surfbeam two-way satellite terminal modem and provide a one metre satellite dish and associated receiver/transmitter equipment.

The AU$107.8 million HiBIS program is the government's answer to the Regional Telecommunications Inquiry in improving access and broadband services in regional and rural areas.