Broadband expansion costs clearer

By PAUL BRISLEN

The cost of the Government's regional broadband expansion Project Probe seems to be about $18 million.

Telecom has won 11 of the 15 tenders and in its annual report said it received $11 million funding for nine of its regions to June this year.

The minister responsible for Project Probe, Trevor Mallard, has never said how much the Government was willing to spend on each region, but the term "tens of millions of dollars" was used during last year's budget round.

If Telecom's contracts are taken as an average, each region would cost around $1.2 million, with the cost of the project coming in at just over $18 million.

Telecom is using its existing copper network for its Project Probe commitments where it can and is working with wireless network operator BCL for those beyond its reach.

Three of the other tender winners offer a wireless service, including fixed wireless operator Wired Country in Auckland, ThePacific.Net's WiFi-based operation in Nelson and portable wireless operator Woosh in Southland.

The final region is to be serviced by satellite and consists of the most remote parts of the country. Auckland internet provider Iconz won that tender and will offer the service with Thai telco Shin Satellite.

The cost of these four projects has not been revealed.

Three of the contracts remain unsigned, despite assurances that the entire project would be complete in time for its latest deadline of the end of this year.

Most schools and community centres were meant to be connected by November last year. However, that deadline has slipped and the schools are now expected to be connected by the end of this year.