Digital Switchover

 Mr Fletcherasked the Minister representing the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in writing, on 16 August 2011:

In respect of the Deeds of Agreement that the Commonwealth has entered into 'for the provision of services related to the Digital Switchover Household Assistance Scheme' in different geographic locations around Australia, what are the:

(1) parties to each Deed of Agreement, by geographical location, and

(2) service charges that each contractor with the Commonwealth will be paid per item/service pursuant to the respective agreement, in a form similar to that set out in Schedule 3, clause 1.1 of the standard Deed of Agreement that his department has made publicly available.

 Mr Albanese: The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(1) The following Deeds of Agreement, parties, by geographical location, have been entered into for the provision of services related to the Digital Switchover Scheme

Region

RFT Released

RFT Close

Successful Contractor(s)

Mildura

3 June 2009

13 July 2009

Hills TechLife

Regional South Australia

15 December 2009

1 February 2010

Hills TechLife

Skybridge

Regional Victoria

20 April 2010

17 May 2010

TechLife Solutions

Skybridge

Regional Queensland

22 October 2010

17 November 2010

TechLife Solutions

GM Communications (trading as Skybridge)

Regional New South Wales

29 April 2011

10 June 2011

Tendering currently in progress

(2) Service charges under the Deeds of Agreement are not disclosed. Disclosure of this material would compromise future negotiations with tenderers in remaining switchover areas.