IPSTAR Partners the Australian Broadband Guarantee Subsidy Program

IPSTAR Australia, a subsidiary of Thailand's THAICOM  announced that four IPSTAR service providers in Australia have been granted the Australian Broadband Guarantee Program (ABG) from the Australian government.

The service providers are: Broadband Wireless Pty Ltd (BBW Telecom), Skymesh, Westnet Pty Ltd, and Westvic Broadband Pty Ltd. Since receiving the subsidy grant from the Australian government, the service providers have been aggressively deploying IPSTAR broadband satellite services to the retail market with end-user packages starting at only AUD 29.95/month (USD 19.60/month).

The Australian Broadband Guarantee (ABG) is a form of a Universal Service Obligation subsidy program managed by the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy granting subsidies to qualified service providers to provide broadband services to areas in Australia that are unable to access metro-comparable broadband services, which mainly consists of rural households nationwide.

Park Boonyubol, general manager of IPSTAR Australia said, "Since commercialization of the IPSTAR service in 2004 the IPSTAR broadband satellite solution has proven to be the product of choice in Australia to enable broadband services nationwide. This combined with the Australian government's support through its ABG program, have enabled Australians nationwide, wherever they live, to have access to broadband at metro prices starting at only AUD 29.95/month (USD 19.60/month). There are still up to 1 million households in Australia that do not have access to terrestrial broadband services therefore we will continue to expand into this retail market by working closely with our local service providers."

As of September 2008, the total number of IPSTAR broadband satellite subscribers reached approximately 53,000. With the recent continuation of the ABG program through IPSTAR's service providers, IPA is targeting over 60,000 subscribers by year's end.