That Australia finally has announced its long awaited and much debated new super fast National Broadband Network on Tuesday is not really big news. Neither is the fact that it is, as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd describes, the biggest infrastructure project in the country's history. The big news is Australia is the only government in the world now that, realizing the crucial role that broadband can play in reviving the economy, has a multi-billion dollar economic stimulus package centered on the creation of a super-fast broadband infrastructure.
Admitting that Australia is still a "broadband backwater" and a super-fast national broadband network is the only way to "turbo-charge Australia's economic future," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced establishment of the National Broadband Network, that will involve an investment of a massive $30 billion (Au$43 billion) over the next 8 years.
Besides connecting 90 percent of homes, schools and workplaces, and businesses at 100 megabits per second-100 times faster than what is currently in use, there are a couple of salient feature to the network plan. One, it will be Australia's first national wholesale-only, open access broadband network to be built and operated on a commercial basis. And two, it will be deployed using next generation technologies like optical fiber (fiber to the premises or 'FTTP') for urban and regional towns, and wireless and satellite technologies for remote parts of rural Australia.
Indeed, no other government in the world has given so much attention to creating a broadband infrastructure even if many have announced much larger stimulus packages.
At $30 billion Australia's broadband stimulus package is actually greater than the non-IT or non-technology stimuli ($29.3 billon) Australia has announced so far.
For example out of the $840 billion of stimulus that US has announced so far, just about a little over $7 billion has been allocated for broadband infrastructure. Out of the Canada's $43.6 stimulus package, investments in broadband accounts for a measly $225 million odd.
Similarly, while China, Japan, and UK have also announced large stimulus packages ($586 billion, $154.4 billion and $47 billion respectively), there is no mention of investments solely for improving the existing or creating new broadband infrastructure.
"Expenditure on broadband infrastructure is either missing or inadequate on stimulus packages of all Governments around the world," says Leonard Waverman, the author of the Connectivity Report, who is also considered to be one of the most influential men in the global telecom industry today.
"I would spend more on communications compared to highways and bridges. Broadband is also construction but it is not a focus anywhere. We need information highways, not just the autobahns, and now is the time to do it," he says.
Ilkka Lakaniemi, head of global political dialogue and initiatives at Nokia Siemens Networks, a global telecommunications services company also has similar feelings. He says, "All the economies are facing deep recession and governments across the world are adopting at least what seems like old fashioned Keynesian policies of using government spending to kick start economies to get out of the recession" he says .
"However," he adds, "the message from the Australian governments decision to roll out the National Broadband Network is crystal clear; we should be investing for the infrastructure of the 21st century and not the infrastructure of the 20th century. And that is ensuring that ICT is top of mind of governments when they rolling out their economic support plan."
For Australia, the passage to the new National Broadband Network has hardly been smooth. It was first mooted by previous Government in 2007 and since then it suffered a lot debate and critical analysis.
In fact the initial plan to fund this network by selling part of the Government's stake in the country's largest telecom company Telstra, and dipping into Government's Future Fund, was termed as "smash-and-grab raid" on the savings of future generations by critics.
There were also doubts about whether that network as per what was planned then, would reach the vast stretches of remote rural regions.
However, according to Senator Stephen Conroy, minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy, rural and regional Australia will be big winners from the new National Broadband Network.
"The National Broadband Network will deliver on our commitment to provide broadband speeds of 12 Mbps to all Australians, no matter where they choose to live or work," Conroy said. "Under this plan, the National Broadband Network will provide next-generation wireless and launch next-generation satellites to link all premises in regional, rural and remote Australia. This level of service is above and beyond our commitment and a vast improvement on the services left behind by the previous government."
The new network will be built and operated by a new company specifically established by the Australian Government to carry out this project and the Government will be the majority shareholder of this company. But significant private sector investment in the company is also anticipated, says the government. And that means, instead of free market private enterprise approach that was initially envisaged, the Rudd Government has decided on the public-private partnership model.
According to plans, the Government will make an initial investment in the company but intends to sell down its interest in the company within 5 years after the network is built and fully operational, consistent with market conditions, as well as with national and identity security considerations.
Says Conroy, the most tangible benefit of the network would be that it will support 25,000 jobs every year, on average, over the life of the project, which at it peak-that is after it is rolled out fully in 8 years- will support 37,000 jobs.
Besides NBN's investment is also the biggest reform in telecommunications in two decades because it delivers separation between the infrastructure provider and retail service providers. This means better and fairer infrastructure access for service providers, greater retail competition, and above all, better services.
Indrajit Basu is the International Correspondent for Digital Communities.
Photo by Anita Maric / London Summit. CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
