High-tech Package Plan
Newcastle Herald
Saturday October 14, 2000
A CANADIAN company is working on a $150million plan to deliver `broadband' telephone, Internet, pay-TV and mobile phone services to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
SaskTel, a government-owned telecommunications company from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, recently briefed Lake Macquarie and Newcastle councils on its plans.
The company is working with planning officers at both councils on a development application it hopes to have considered before the end of the year.
SaskTel says the `highly evolveable hybrid fibre-coaxial-copper network' would cost between $125million and $150million to develop, creating 150 to 200 construction and installation jobs over two years, and 100 to 150 high-tech operating jobs, with a head office in the region.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald this week, SaskTel International investments vice-president Barry Ziegler said the company wanted to sign households up to a single contract that would provide all of their electronic communications needs.
`What we're talking about is a highly competitive telephone, high-speed Internet, data, pay-TV and mobile telephone service in a package that is not currently offered by any single provider,' Mr Ziegler said.
SaskTel would compete against Telstra and Optus in telephony and would seek arrangements to carry programs from the pay-TV networks.
Mr Ziegler acknowledged the most controversial aspect of the project was SaskTel's ambition to run most of its connecting cables from power poles, only going underground where necessary.
`It's the only way the project is financially viable,' he said.
SaskTel was talking with Energy Australia about access to its power pole infrastructure.
After speaking with the two councils, Mr Ziegler said they were `receptive but non-committal about the power pole plan'.
Newcastle Lord Mayor John Tate said he recognised the technological benefits to the region of having broadband telephony services and the SaskTel proposal was very interesting from that point of view.
`But the environmental effects of using the power poles for wiring infrastructure is something we need to look at,' Cr Tate said.
Lake Macquarie general manager Ken Holt said the plan had potential benefits and the council was waiting to see a firm proposal.
Mr Ziegler said SaskTel was attracted to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie because the area had sufficient population density to make such a plan work.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald
