It is disappointing that a leading business commentator would suggest that Australia does not need a national high-speed broadband network.
The article FTTN - piracy and porn (www.businessspectator.com.au) completely misses the point when it argues we don’t need faster broadband speeds than 12 Mbps. That speed might be fast enough for one person to watch one or two channels of HD TV, but what happens when someone in the same house wants to download a movie, or work from home, listen to a podcast, make a video call, attend a virtual lecture or have their x-rays delivered digitally – at the same time, or all at the same time?
High-speed broadband will literally transform not just the way we communicate, but the way we live. The advances Australia will make in areas like health and education will be profound. People in rural Australia will be able to consult with the best health specialists in the cities or overseas. Or, if the specialist chooses to, he or she could live in rural Australia and do their consults online in real time. Students could attend this country’s or the world’s best tertiary institutions no matter where they lived. Small business will not only be able to communicate more effectively with big business, they will be able to compete on a more even footing.
Try telling the health professionals who want to send multiple digital images for real time diagnosis that what we already have is fast enough. Or the architect competing for the tender in New York who has been asked to make a small amendment to his drawings and send them through in five minutes. Or the manufacturing business in country Victoria that does business with a company in Japan that demands their suppliers have real time access to design data and HD video conferencing.
High speed broadband is also an essential piece of infrastructure in a world with increasing fuel costs and carbon emissions. We can significantly cut carbon emissions with telecommunications by reducing the need for air and road travel, while also increasing the nation’s productivity. But we need world data speeds (not the current offerings) to have the kind of videoconference experience that makes telecommunications a real substitute for a face-to-face meeting.
The faster our broadband networks are the more we can do, the more the economy will prosper – it’s as simple as that.
And the throw away argument that an FTTN will only increase piracy and porn is like saying we shouldn’t build better and safer roads and cars because it will only encourage people to drive faster.
By falling hook, line and sinker for the self-serving Internode claim that Australia should be happy with what we’ve got when it comes to broadband speeds, or that if FTTN does proceed then current ADSL 2+ services should be allowed to continue, the article completely ignores the economics of the situation.
Telstra’s view, and this is supported by Terria, TransACT and a host of others, is that while technically possible to leave existing ULLS services in place, doing so would completely destroy the whole point of an FTTN build. To safeguard Internode’s business model in an FTTN world you have to turn down the power and hence the speed at the node. This might make sense for Internode but it means that many Australian consumers will continue to have no access to high speed broadband services. What about in areas where Internode has no presence, do we have to turn the power down there as well?
It is understandable that Internode is doing everything it possibly can to protect its existing business. But let’s not forget that the carrier that has the most to lose in terms of DSLAM assets stranded by an FTTN is Telstra. Telstra has many times more DSLAMs than its closest competitor but still stands ready to build the FTTN because it is the best outcome for Australia.
Does Alan Kohler really believe that the rest of Australia should be held to ransom and miss out on all of the benefits that a truly national high-speed broadband network will deliver just because Internode wants to protect its small investment in putting DSLAMs into exchanges?
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