In June 2006, the Australian Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) under the then coalition government called for expressions of interest for discussion of how to invest up to A$878 million in funding under Broadband Connect program to provide greater access to broadband services in rural and regional areas at prices comparable to services available in metropolitan areas, $500 million of which was envisaged as being available to infrastructure projects.

[1] On 2006-09-21, the government announced they would invest up to $600 million in broadband infrastructure projects in rural, regional and remote Australia under this program.

[6][7] The then federal opposition Communications spokesman stated that they would honour the agreement, a stance maintained after winning government two months later, despite their own competing National Broadband Network proposal.

The selection of WiMAX technology was questioned by some groups, including the then Federal Opposition[16] and competitor Telstra,[17] leading to further debate.

Elders intended to enter the telecommunications market by selling OPEL services from its existing retail channels.