Federal Government to give the bush a $250 million NBN headstart - nbn, Senator Stephen Conroy - ARN
Quote: "In regional areas where competing backhaul networks are not present there is little pressure on a supplier to offer low prices and higher quality services. This can mean that internet service providers and other service providers cannot make new services available to consumers in these areas at prices that are competitive, when compared to similar locations that have alternative backhaul supply options."
Thats Darwin and the Telstra monopoly in a nutshell :D
Here is the gov document: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/110420/Backhaul_Blackspots_Initiative_Stakeholder_Consultation_Paper.pdf
And iinet and optus already bidding: ISPs line up for slice of $250m backhaul fund - Telecommunications - iTnews Australia
The first blackspot tenders have been called. iTWire - First NBN backbone tenders called
Quote: The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, announced today that the first round of NBN expenditure would go on new backbone links to serve Emerald and Longreach (Queensland), Geraldton (Western Australia), Darwin (Northern Territory), Broken Hill (New South Wales), Victor Harbor (South Australia), and South West Gippsland (Victoria).
The original calls from industry on the original NBN were that we should be fixing the problems outside in - whatever's broke the most needs to be fixed first. What a surprise, they're doing that now and calling it their idea.