Broadband Infrastructure – Where the wind blows..

The ongoing debate on national infrastructure investment for telecommunications in Australia is mind-numbing.  I was a teenager when the Snowy Mountains Scheme was completed. An inter-generational non-partisan development that strengthened the country. I am not sure we demonstrate the ability to replicate such developments?

Those concerned with the demographic challenges facing the country over the next generation and the implications for employment, productivity, investment and skills would suggest a National Broadband Network would be a “lay-down Misère”.

A long-term restructure of the infrastructure capabilities of our telecommunications network for an increasingly atomised, distributed and SMALLER workforce, would, one would think, be high on the agenda of public policy planners.

When one understands that 96% of Australian Businesses are SMALL businesses [less than 20 employed] and only 1% are large businesses, the disconnect in policy is very confusing to me.

News reports today suggest to me that the normally explicit and clear-cut Australian Industry Group [AIG] has appeared to equivocate on their position on the National Broadband Network.

2010 – NBN

“an extraordinary opportunity for businesses in Australia to “transform their innovation practice, in terms of realising cost-savings, productivity, extending market reach and introducing brand new types of products and services.”  – [Source: Innovation 2010 AIG]

2013 – NBN

“The fact that a contest has developed to see who can offer the most credible high-speed broadband policy will ultimately be good for business and the economy….”

“Ai Group has long supported the need for a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best approach to the rollout and to answer broader questions about what this investment means for Australia’s future economic and social development. This analysis is particularly important where changes to the model are being debated and many claims and counter claims are made.”

“Over the coming months Ai Group will consult further with members to determine their views on the best way forward in terms of broadband infrastructure,” Mr Willox said.

2014 – NBN

“Our infrastructure is still lagging behind and that indicates that we do still need something like a National Broadband Network,” – AIG chief economist Julie Toth

The economics of access:

As a small [micro] business operator, working almost exclusively online, in a rural area of Victoria, with clients and colleagues across state and national/international borders, telecommunications infrastructure is fundamental. My business is severly hampered by this lack of infrastructure and I have no doubt also effects other “off-farm” enterprise developments in my region.

I rely exclusively on 3G Wireless internet and phone access.

I have gone to the additional expense [$1000.00 + incl installation ] of purchasing a Telstra Smart Antenna to boost and focus internal 3G coverage.

I pay over $300.00 dollars per month for a combined Mobile-phone and Wireless Internet service that only provides 12 Gigabyte of data download a month. This is the maximum I can receive. [Yes there is an additional 3GB per month for an additional 30+ dollars.- An insult] $120.00 dollars per month for 15GB?

In other parts of the SAME POSTCODE, users have access to a minimum of 50GB a month for $49.00 dollars. I regularly find myself driving around the district to get access to bandwidth.

As the Federal and State budgets loom large, let’s hope vision, foresight and long-term thinking find a place amongst the debates about expenses and investments………