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ATUG 2007 Regional Conference
From the Desk of Managing Director
Rosemary Sinclair
ATUG’s 5th Annual Conference on Regional Telecommunications will be held in Canberra on 15-16 May 2007.
Since the last conference much progress has been made on the issues and answers for regional telecommunications. Policies and funding programs have been put in place. New technologies and service providers have entered the market. Local, State and Federal governments have worked to define and develop their individual role and to coordinate outcomes for end users far more effectively.
Lessons have been learned from Networking the Nation, Demand Aggregation, HiBIS #1 and the efforts of local communities and governments in working with providers to accelerate and extend access to broadband.
The Telstra sale legislation passed in 2005 saw reconfirmation of the Universal Service obligation, Customer Service Guarantee and National Reliability Framework policies and the introduction of the Telstra Local Presence Plan and the Independent Regional Review process. T3 was also accompanied by a significant increase in funding for services in regional areas.
ATUG’s 2007 conference will provide delegates with updates on policy, technology and market developments of particular relevance to telecommunications services in regional Australia. Particular focus will be put on end user case studies, demand, benefits and outcomes.
The conference will also provide an opportunity to share broadband success stories and experiences by providers, brokers and local councils, and to get an update on the strategies of State and Federal government to accelerate and extend access to new services. Education, health, government services, agri-business and tourism are among the sectors that will be reviewed in the case studies
The program will include an update on Connect Australia and in particular the Broadband Connect and Clever Networks programs and the National Broadband Blueprint launched by the Minister in December 2006.
ATUG’s 1st regional conference in 2003 concentrated on defining the key issues that had to be tackled. In 2007 our focus will be on sharing the success stories, encouraging more regions to become involved in getting results for regional communities and ensuring Government programs are well supported by end users.
Join us in Canberra – May
2007
Last updated 2-Jul-2009