An Australian-designed system for delivering long-range wireless broadband to remote areas has attracted global interest. The CSIRO has successfully tested the technology - dubbed Ngara - in rural north-west Tasmania, using analogue television frequencies and existing broadcast towers to send and receive data. The CSIRO's head of Business Development Gary Doherty says the aim is to provide services to areas left off the National Broadband Network, but it has potential to be applied elsewhere. "If you look around the world there are communities with sparsely populated areas - China, Russia, Africa - where this technology could have a market. "We're also keeping an eye on the global opportunity and being careful about how we manage the commercialisation," Mr Doherty said. The CSIRO says the system is still several years from completion. The project manager David Robertson says the trial results are highly encouraging. "It's prototype technology. We're probably three to four years away from a commercial product, but that will come very rapidly. "Commercialisation is a very fast process, once they see that the underlying principles are sound and they work, and that's what we've done here." Via: ABC News