One of the fastest growing regions in APANA, ACT is now the third biggest of all the regions and is still growing. This success must be attributed to the committed, professional and supportive members (both formal and informal) of the Regional Committee (RC).
ACT has enjoyed a sustained growth and increasing bandwidth (now 64 kb/s via Connect.Com) since purchasing its first 9.6 kb/s permanent connection over 2 years ago. Current projections suggest that a 128 kb/s feed may be achieved within the next 12-18 months.
The ACT Hub, which supports 24 lines, is close to capacity. A second hub has been designed and is expected to be implemented in the next 6 months. Initially connecting to the primary hub at 28.8 kb/s, it is hoped that increasing demand will allow this link to be upgraded to ISDN shortly after going live. Michael Moynihan will be the manager of this second hub, and is eager to see more permanent connections made available in ACT.
The ACT region has not been without its difficulties over the last 12 months. We have seen one of our earliest Public Access Sites (PAS) shutdown recently and another go commercial at the end of last year. The RC has adopted a policy of enforcing signed agreements between the region and each PAS. This policy has not deterred new PAS sites from coming on line, and we still enjoy the diversity of 4 well managed and stable Public Access Sites in the region.
On the whole it has been an exciting year here in the ACT region. Our latest ambition is to become the premier region of APANA, so watch out Sydney and Melbourne!