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December 11, 2009
Over the last couple of days I've been dipping into the Realizing Our Broadband Future conference being held at the University of NSW. The speeches are online, and some of them go beyond the technology of pipes and connectivity to explore how it will be incorporated into our everyday lives and how we will make use of a high speed broadband over and above e-business, e-health, e-education. If the Internet is profoundly changing society, and is likely to have impacts beyond what can be imagined today, then the future delivered by a national highspeed broadband network is a geek heaven.
The significance of high speed broadband was outlined by Jeffrey Cole, Director USC Annenberg School, yesterday. This keynote speech, with its roots in the work of the Centre for Digital Future, was historically informed.
Cole argued that we have come a long way since dial-up with Web 2.0 and the emergence of social media. It was kinda sobering to realize just how fast we have travelled in 5 years. We are standing on the threshold of something new. This is the ABC's interpretation of the something new.
I've just heard David Bartlett, the Premier of Tasmania, give an excellent speech on the potential for Tasmania connected by high speed broadband currently being built under the auspices of the wholesale national broadband network. This will make Tasmania one of the most connected place on the planet and it enables Tasmania to shift away from the old resource based economy to a knowledge-based, creative digital economy. His argument was that this infrastructure investment is going to pay off in terms of GDP development, entrepreneurial opportunity and innovation.
To its credit the ALP and the Rudd Government, have grasped the significance of this 21st century technology--hence the regional backhaul project to provide wholesale competition to overcome Telstra's regional price gouging and blackspots.
In contrast, the Coalition opposition, or more accurately the Liberal Party, views broadband reform through the window of small government and continued Telstra dominance (Minchin continually attacked the move to force Telstra's separation to ensure greater competition). Under Minchin, the Liberal strategy was to undermine the National Broadband Network (NBN) rather than making a constructive contribution to the policy. It was based on an indifference to both the ICT industry and to a knowledge-based digital economy.
The Liberal Party doesn't seem to realize that the argument about infrastructure is over.There is widespread public support for government to invest more in internet infrastructure (the NBN), better regulation of telecommunications companies, and more incentives for businesses to improve the Internet. Now that we are building a national broadband network, the question becomes, 'What are we going to use it for?
This applies to the government. What is the education department going to use it for? What is the health department going to use it for? What is aged care department going to use it for? What is the environment department going to use it for?
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The cost of using Telstra's Internet 'backhaul' links to rural areas is prohibitive -- and there are no alternatives. here is no competition, there is just Telstra [most of the time]. So Telstra has enjoyed monopoly pricing.