Austar: Govt u-turn means no wireless sale

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Austar, the Australian regional pay-TV provider, confirmed that it would not now sell its wireless spectrum to the Optus/Elders (OPEL) consortium, after the government pulled a contract with OPEL.
Australia’s federal government said on April 2 that a A$958 million contract for OPEL to build a regional and rural high-speed broadband network would be cancelled as iut did not meet the requirement to serve 90% of under-served premises. Part of the network was to be delivered via WiMAX technology, using wireless spectrum, some of which was to be bought from Austar.

The consortium agreed in January to pay Austar A$65 million for access to Austar’s 2.3Ghz and 3.5Ghz spectrum, a deal which would not now happen, Austar said. The company had previously said that it hoped one day to offer pay-TV over the OPEL network, including the wireless spectrum which OPEL was purchasing from Austar.

Austar chief executive John Porter, while expressing disappointment at the government’s decision, said that he “remained confident” that Austar would monetise its spectrum holdings at some point in the future. “A licensed WiMAX network will be critical to the economic provision of broadband services in regional Australia, and we will continue to work with interested parties to ensure that regional Australians are not left behind," Porter added.


Source: Rapid TV News

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