ATUG’s 4th Annual Conference on Regional Telecommunications will be held in Canberra on 15-16 May 2006.

Since the last conference much progress has been made on the issues and answers for regional telecommunications. Policies and funding programs have been put in place. New technologies and service providers have entered the market. Local, State and Federal governments have worked to define and develop their individual role and to coordinate outcomes for end users far more effectively.

Lessons have been learned from Networking the Nation, Demand Aggregation, HiBIS #1 and the efforts of local communities and governments in working with providers to accelerate and extend access to broadband.

The Telstra sale legislation passed in 2005 saw reconfirmation of the Universal Service obligation, Customer Service Guarantee and National Reliability Framework policies and the introduction of the Telstra Local Presence Plan and the Independent Regional Review process. T3 was also accompanied by a significant increase in funding for services in regional areas.

ATUG’s 2006 conference will provide delegates with updates on policy, technology and market developments of particular relevance to telecommunications services in regional Australia. Particular focus will be put on end user market research, demand, benefits and outcomes.

The conference will also provide an opportunity to share the success stories and experiences of providers, demand aggregation brokers, and local councils, and the strategies of State and Federal government to accelerate and extend access to new services. Education, health, government services, agri-business and tourism are among the sectors that will be reviewed in the case studies

Technologies in focus in 2006 will be wireless broadband, 3G, satellite and fibre. An international update on progress and experiences from overseas will be compared with plans and service rollouts in Australia.

Some of the key speakers at the ATUG 2006 Regional Conference will include;
Senator The Hon Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Stephen Conroy, Shadow Minister for Communications and Information Technology , Senator Fiona Nash - Nationals' Senator for NSW , Ewan Sutherland - International speaker , Simon Bryant - DCITA , Michael Cosgrave - ACCC, Colin Griffith -NSW Government Chief Information Office, Ron Cooke - Multimedia Victoria, Dan Scherr -Department of Industry and Resources (WA), Dr Brian Richards - e-Health, Dr Peter Brain – Australian Local Government Association and many more.

No ATUG conference would be complete without opportunites to network with leaders of our industry. The Cocktail Party on the 15th and the Breakfast on the 16th is a great way to catch up with old friends and to make new contacts in our exciting industry.