The Australian government will extends its program for subsidizing the purchase of satellite phones for people living or working in remote parts of the country through 2009, the minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts announced May 15.

The program has spent more than 8 million Australian dollars ($6.2 million) to support the purchase of more than 7,000 phones since 2002. The extension will be funded under the government’s 29.5 million Australian dollar ($22.7 million) Mobile Connect program, part of the 3.1 billion Australian dollar ($2.4 billion) Connect Australia package.