Clash over Oz broadband
p2p news / p2pnet: The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan unveiled a Broadband Blueprint for Australia and used the event to attack the federal Opposition’s plan to help fund a Fiber-To-The-Node roll out.
“Picking one technology – fiber to the node – to the detriment of all others and failing to consider the mix of technologies necessary to solve Australia ’s unique geographic and demographic problems is a fragmented and short sighted response likely to end in tears”, said Coonan, calling for an “integrated approach to this investment so Australia can truly aspire to being a world leader in the development, roll out and use of next gen networks.”
A World Bank report released a few months ago pegged Australia as lagging behind the rest of the world in broadband speeds.
At the time, the Opposition claimed this was largely due to many Australians only having access to “fraudband” – 256kbps connections. For years researchers have told that economic growth could be boosted by fast and widely available broadband connections, as exemplified in the 2004 estimate from ACIL Tasman that predicted a A$15 billion increase in gross revenue for Victoria if 70% of its residents were using broadband by 2015.
Terry Cutler, a communications adviser to the government told the Financial Review a few months ago that there are “actually investment disincentives on all players” in the Australian broadband market.
Any increase in download speeds would go down well with Australians, who are the second biggest downloaders of TV shows after UK residents.
Also See:
Australia lags on Internet front: World Bank – Sydney Morning Herald, March 10, 2006
Measuring Broadband’s Economic Impact – Broadbandproperties.com, December, 2005
A national plan for broadband – ATUG Regional Conference Transcript, May 15, 2006
