| Timeframe | Five-year arrangement |
Arrangements | Telstra |
| Mandatory | Queensland Government Departments are required to use these arrangements (refer Definitions section, page 7) |
| Optional | Arrangements are also open to all Queensland Government Agencies and, by agreement with the Contractors,to Eligible Non-Government Bodies (refer Definitions section, page 7) |
| Schedule of products and services | Mobile phone handsets and accessories as well as voice, data and value-added network services for all types of mobile telephone services including satellite, GSM and 3G (including Next G™). |
The Mobile Panel Arrangement is a procurement arrangement for the purchase of mobile telephone products and associated services.
This initiative uses aggregated Queensland Government expenditure to promote the development of additional mobile phone base stations in rural and remote areas in locations that matched Queensland Government priorities. This has resulted in Optus deploying 48 additional Global System for Mobile (GSM) mobile phone base stations in regional and rural Queensland, whilst Telstra has similarly built nine Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile phone base stations. The CDMA base stations have all been upgraded to Next G™.
The original term of the Mobile Panel Arrangement was from 1 December 2003 until 30 November 2006. Following negotiations with Optus and Telstra, this Mobile Panel Arrangement has now been extended to 30 November 2008, allowing both Optus and Telstra to offer significantly improved pricing on their mobile services (around 40% discount on mobile voice services and up to 45% discount for mobile data services).
Queensland Government Departments and Agencies may obtain more information on the Mobile Panel Arrangement at http://qgcio.govnet.qld.gov.au/03_contracts/mobile-products.htm.