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Australian Outback to get
broadband Internet
A satellite deployed in a rocket launch from South America has will bring broadband
Internet access to the remotest corners of Asia, including rural Australia.
The orbiter will deliver high-speed connectivity to
Asian villages and Australian outback towns that lie
far off fiber-optic cable grids.
The Thai operator of the satellite hopes to serve
four million people from India to China to New Zealand.
The service area covers 14 countries, with data routed
through 18 "gateways", similar to switching
stations used in telephone systems.
Gateways include Australian outback towns Broken Hill
and Kalgoorlie and major cities Bangkok and Mumbai.
Worth more than $522 million, the IPSTAR-1 is the
world's largest civilian communications satellite and
is owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra. The IPSTAR-1 is expected to stay operational
in orbit for 12 years
Households spending up
to $1000 a week
Many Australians are now spending more than $1000 a
week on housing, food, clothes and technology.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Household Expenditure
Survey, a snapshot of the spending habits of Australians
compiled every 5 years, revealed households in 2003
and 2004 spent an average of $883 a week on goods and
services, an increase of $182 since the last survey
in 1998 and 1999.
The most expensive capital city is Darwin rather than
Sydney (average household spending, $1080 a week, compared
to Sydney's $1022 a week), although the differences
between Darwin, Canberra and Sydney are not large enough
to be significant. Tasmanians spend less per week (about
$753) than other Australians.
Most of this money is still spent on housing, food
and clothes, but the survey found that spending on
mobile phones and new technology has increased by 183
per cent in the past five years.
Other significant increases over the past five years
have been interest payments on mortgages, up 47 per
cent to $38.24 a week, and education, up 41 per cent
to an average $16.32 a week, as parents choose to send
their children to private rather than government schools.
The cost of childcare has also increased, up 34 per
cent to $4.78 a week.
Employment boom continues
Employers hired an extra 12,700 workers in July, extending
the current employment boom in Australia into its
11th month.
Since August last year, the workforce has grown by
374,100 positions, or 3.9%, and the unemployment rate
has dropped from 5.6 to 4.9%. This is the lowest level
in 29 years.
All states are enjoying some of the gains, with Western
Australia and Queensland in particular enjoying a resources
boom. These states have high levels of participation
in the workforce, with 68.3% of West Australians and
66.9% of Queenslanders employed.
Victoria and South Australia both have had workforce
increases averaging 3.3%, and employment in NSW and
Tasmania has risen 2.2%.
The continued growth in the workforce has puzzled
Australian economists, who had expected slower economic
growth to result in fewer jobs.
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