Since winning government in 1996, the Federal Coalition Government has been slow in embracing broadband as a national telecoms infrastructure priority. It was not until the privatisation of Telstra that finally in 2005 the government started to become more serious about broadband. Under political pressure $3 billion was allocated for regional service delivery and the associated infrastructure. In 2007 the government also announced its plan for a fibre network for metropolitan Australia. Other policy initiatives covered in this report include: Connect Australia, Broadband Connect, Broadband Guarantee, Clever Networks and Metropolitan Black Spots.
