[LINK] NBN and Austar

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Austar sells 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz spectrum to NBN Co for $120m 

By Stuart Corner, 17 Feb 2011 <http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-
news/deals/45223-austar-sells-23ghz-a-34ghz-spectrum-to-nbn-co-for-120m>


Austar United Communications has sold its 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz spectrum to 
NBN Co for $120m to enable NBN Co to provide 12Mbps broadband to areas 
beyond the economic reach of fibre to the home.

According to its submission to the 2009 Senate NBN enquiry, Austar spent 
$183 million in 2000 to obtain spectrum licenses .. and has sold some 
spectrum to Energy Australia for smart grid applications.

In his presentation to Austar's half year results, Austar CEO John 
Porter, said: "The [NBN] Implementation Study made clear that the 2.3GHz 
spectrum was the most logical spectrum choice for the ‘10 percent’ areas, 
particularly given speed to market issues."

The implementation study said that, even with the use of fixed, 
professionally installed antennas, premises would need to be within 7kms 
of a base station using WiMAX or LTE in the 2.3GHz band. 

Using the digital dividend spectrum this distance would increase to 14kms.

Austar also intends to retail NBN wireless services provided on its 
spectrum. "By retailing NBN Co services, Austar will be able to offer 
consumers a broader range of products than we would have by building our 
own network," Porter said.

Deanne Weir, Austar’s group director corporate development said that 
Austar would now concentrate on developing its content delivery platform 
beyond its current satellite delivered customer base of 30 percent of 
regional homes.

“Austar will focus not only on launching enhanced content services and 
transactional video offerings for our satellite customers, but we will 
also look to create relationships with regional Australian homes that we 
don’t currently service, via high-speed broadband and VoIP offerings,” 
Weir said. 

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Cheers,
Stephen