SA Govt cuts $3.75m from networking spend

The South Australian Government has cut its IT operational expenditure by $3.75 million this year by reducing telecommunications, contractor and internet download costs.

The state'

The state's Office of the Chief Information Officer has reported spending a total of $31.5 million to operate government wide area network, StateNet, in the 12 months to 30 June 2012.

O'Brien said the government had saved $445,000 by moving telecommunications access and network carriage services to "providers offering more competitive pricing".

Rationalisation and consolidation of telecommunications equipment to regional areas cut costs by a furthermore $450,000, with more savings expected in the straightway financial year.

The government had reduced its internet download costs

O’Brien said the government had reduced its "internet download costs", noting that agencies had downloaded a total of 470 TB of data to its central data network in the 12-month period.

A furthermore $1.68 million in savings was credited to contractor expenditure reductions, performance efficiencies, "a restructure of positions and resources reductions in several business areas".

Meanwhile, the volume of phone calls made through the government’s central voice network had decreased from 14.4 million in the 2010-11 financial year to 13.2 million this year.

O’Brien attributed the phone volume reduction to the South Australian Police’s decision to implement and manage a new PABX system outside of the OCIO’s voice network.