Issue #29 April 2013
NBN - fiction and fact
I am completely over the level of debate around what is probably one of the most significant infrastructure projects this country will undertake in the 21st century, the NBN. The size and scope of this project warrants intelligent and accurate public debate, but instead most of what we get is half-truths, outright lies and an ongoing campaign of misinformation, mainly from people who actually know better.
OK, so the NBN is a direct and probably terminal threat to old media so it is understandable that we must suffer a higher level of nonsense from newspapers and television regarding the NBN than we usually endure on other issues. But from both sides of politics the debate seems to be all about the time it takes download a movie! Are they for real? I don’t know about you, but I have only downloaded one movie so far this year and I access the Internet almost every day. Consider this, if you had access to broadband at download speeds of 100 mbps and did nothing but download movies for 10 days, you would have enough movies to watch one a day for around 40 years. Who cares, and what are you going to do with the rest of your life?
What we all need to understand are the real benefits a national high-speed broadband network will deliver. To help provide answers, I found a report that offers an independent and informative understanding of our digital future and I highly recommend you go to http://www.ibm.com/au/pdf/1206_AustDigitalFuture_A4_FINALonline.pdf and download the report by IbisWorld, commissioned by IBM. It presents a comprehensive analysis of Australia’s digital future through to 2050 and is a "must read" if you want an informed opinion on the implications of high-speed broadband for Australia.