The Customer Access Network (CAN) Demonstration Program

The Customer Access Network (CAN) Demonstrations Program provides financial support to pilot alternative CAN telecommunications infrastructure in rural, regional and remote Victoria.

The CAN Demonstrations Program is designed to improve the availability of technical, financial and commercial information on alternative CAN infrastructure technologies and business models to help promote investment in broadband telecommunications across the state.

The Program is a key initiative to the Victorian Government’s Regional Connections policy which aims to improve the environment for investment in communications infrastructure in regional Victoria.

The policy comprises seven streams of activity:

• Promoting a more competitive wholesale carrier market
• Supporting investment in competitive customer access networks
• Reducing the costs of information discovery to potential investors
• Better utilizing Government infrastructure
• Supporting new regional and community telecommunications initiatives
• Providing regional access to Government communications spend
• Being a strong advocate to the Commonwealth for all of regional and rural Victoria

By directly supporting investment in CAN infrastructure, the CAN Demonstrations Program draws together these streams of activity. It specifically targets the major bottleneck to bringing rural and regional communities online – the challenge of servicing the telecommunications ‘last mile’.

$10 million across five years has been allocated to the program through the Victorian Government’s Regional Infrastructure Development Fund.

Target Projects

Funding for the CAN Demonstrations Program targets projects that:

• Invest in broadband CAN infrastructure in regional and rural areas
• Address regions with greatest need
• Demonstrate community and local Government support
• Contribute to the socio-economic development of the area
• Provide technical, commercial and management information required to evaluate telecommunication investment strategies
• Pilot innovative broadband services and business models
• Leverage private investment
• Share available infrastructure
• Encourage carrier interconnect agreements
• Test the sustainability of the market
• Have appropriate business plans and feasibility analysis

Grants of up to approximately $1 million per project are available with an expected in-kind investment contribution from applicants.

Benefits for Regional and Business Community

Services

Telecommunications and increasingly broadband services have a central role in supporting business and community activities. Regional areas are therefore at a significant disadvantage if they lack quality telecommunications services.

Projects funded under the CAN Demonstrations program will pilot competitive broadband infrastructure in selected rural and regional areas. The projects will enable access to reasonably priced broadband services for businesses, community groups and members of the public, engender development of local ICT skills and facilities, and accelerate the adoption of e-business practices for growth in the local economy.

The projects will help regional businesses on an equal footing with their metropolitan counterparts.

Technology

Victoria ’s geographic, demographic and socio-economic diversity means there is no simple, single solution to providing customer access networks. Matching the right technology and business model to the needs of particular rural, regional and remote locations is one of the challenges of connecting Victoria .

Demonstrating the feasibility and applicability of different broadband technologies to different regional markets is the focus of projects funded under the CAN Demonstrations Program.

The program is open to a range of technologies that may be used for hotspot, short or long distance services, including fixed line (DSL, fibre, cable), mobile (CDMA, GPRS, Wi-Fi), radio and microwave. The mix of technologies available provides an opportunity for the development of innovative solutions to the CAN infrastructure needs of rural and regional areas.

Information

Broadband technologies are changing rapidly and the telecommunications industry is experiencing a period of technical and commercial instability. In such a volatile environment the key to promoting investment and sustained growth in telecommunications services is the availability of relevant information.

By priming the initial capital investment required to test new technologies and commercial models for CAN infrastructure, the CAN Demonstrations Program will provide a better understanding of the financial viability and sustainability of alternative telecommunications models for rural and regional Victoria . The projects will inform the Government and the market about the factors impacting investment in telecommunications infrastructure including technical performance, market adoption, service development, geographic conditions and local socio-economic characteristics.

An evaluation framework has been established to collect, collate and analyse information on each of the projects over a period of years. The information will be used to clarify issues impacting the commercial sustainability of the new on-line environment and its economic and social effects on rural businesses and communities. The information from the evaluations will be made publicly availably and results of the Program will continue to inform the Government telecommunications policies and carrier investment strategies into the future.