This report has been archived. The NSW government has taken the development of regional broadband very seriously and has initiated a range of projects. Soul Pattinson Telecommunications is involved in a fibre network utility partnership with Country Energy that utilises electricity infrastructure for carriage of fibre optic cable networks to 16 NSW country and coastal towns. The Hunter IN-REACH project involves deploying a fibre ring in eastern Newcastle linking various education, health and local government facilities. At the same time, a range of large and small telcos have joined some of the utility companies and are launching broadband projects in several regional cities. TransACT in Canberra delivers triple play communications services via voice, high-speed data and video. In June 2006 a partnership agreement was signed between the Commonwealth Government, AARNet representing Charles Sturt University, and regional telco provider Soul.
