1. Spectrum access in regional, rural and remote Australia A policy framework for stronger economic growth Lynda Summers, Deputy Chair, MRDB with Rob Connell, Regional ICT Project Officer, MRDB

2. The Regional ICT Committee A project of the MRDB Area: 17 NSW and Victorian local government areas Membership: Local Government, TAFE, Universities, schools, public and private health, industry and business, State government and more… Focus: Regional, rural and remote economic development

3. The Choice A continuance of the domination of carriers in determining the technology, capacity, quality, service levels, product set and implementation time-frame or A new paradigm of innovation through partnerships between communities, industry sectors, suppliers/manufacturers, service providers and content producers

4. Spectrum: A resource for the nation’s economic future Rural and remote industry is the engine room of the nation’s economy –Farming, forestry, mining, water management: Telemetry and telematics (M2M, control and measurement systems etc.) Logistics and supply chain efficiencies Voice and data access from anywhere to anywhere Emergency services Converged services over IP networks built to support rural industries also provides Farm and small community access high speed internet, VoIP services and the benefits of a mobile, more productive workforce Local Government and regional and rural productivity gains through workforce mobility Social equity through universal access to health, education and other Internet delivered resources

5. Spectrum2: Global standards –Globally compliant WiMAX spectrum Carrier grade services for VPN voice and data betworks for Local Government and industry Backhaul for on farm and in township WiFi mesh networks –850MHz spectrum for wide-area voice and data networks telemetry and telematics CDMA local loop telephony 1xRRT and EvDO data Serial SCADA support

6. Global Standards 2. Standards = Interoperability: locally, regionally, nationally and internationally Standards = lower costs through competition Standards = lower integration costs Standards = relief from dependencies: vendor, manufacturer, carrier.

7. “Greetings and apologies, the Sol strategy needs a lot of probing. What we want from conferences such as this is a fair and consumer oriented outcome, not a carrier-dominant one.” Tim Fischer, 3 rd March 2006.