AUSTRALIA: Broadband plan not an instant fix; critics
Updated
Australia remains years behind its Asian neighbours when it comes to fast internet services - and the Government's two-billion dollar plan wont be an instant fix. The plan, announced this week, has been welcomed in most quarters. According to critics, the building of a broadband telecommunications network will still take at least two years to bring Australia into line with other developed nations.
Karon Snowdon
Presenter:
Speakers: Paul Budde, Telecommunications analyst from Budde-dot-com
SNOWDON: John Howard's Government announced this week a plan to provide fast, affordable Broadband internet access to the whole country in two years for a total cost of two Billion dollars, half of that in government funds. It's partly aimed at undermining the Opposition's Broadband policy, in an election year. It's a last minute policy reversal says independent Telecom analyst, Paul Budde.
BUDDE: Australia always took that sort of situation, now this is nothing to do with national interest. This is commercial activity and at two minutes to 12, they suddenly said, oh my God, there's also a national interest involved. How are we going to solve this problem? But the government is scrambling back into policy making and even in putting money back in telecommunications, but obviously it makes a miscalculations and now they're stumbling back into the telecommunications market and is coming up with some good government policies. But I think some people in Asia must actually be laughing a little bit, because that's what a lot of these governments in Asia already did five to 10 years ago.
SNOWDON: Almost half the two Billion dollar cost is to be paid by the Federal Government to a joint venture company to be called Opal. Opal will almost match that Billion dollars in the form of infrastructure, cash and in kind contributions.
Opal is a partnership between the telecommunications company, Optus, the fully owned subsidiary of Singapore's Singtel, and the rural services company, Elders. It leaves the former government-owned monopoly, Telstra, with no choice but to innovate to compete.
Australia ranks only 16th out of the 30 OECD countries for Broadband penetration, with only 19 broadband subscribers per 100 people, compared to Korea's 29 and Japan's 20.
People living in rural and remote areas have long complained about their lack of access to services.
BUDDE: You can always find an excuse why your country is different. But, in general terms, every single country will have a third of its infrastructure that is causing problems. I mean 95 per cent of Australians live in cities. So pretty easy to fibre up Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and you basically already have 70-80 percent of the population.
SNOWDON: Paul Budde says many Asian governments used hands on policy measures to get their systems ahead and it will take Australia years to catch up.
BUDDE: You know I remember that in 1998-1999, around that time, the Korean Government actually put something like 10,000 of its bureaucrats through training courses to understand what Broadband was all about. Imagine what sort of boost that gave to the understanding of people in health care, education, in business, about what broadband could do for the country.
Japan had a very strong policy towards infrastructure. I think Japan has more fibre connection than all the rest of the world together, including the United States.
Hong Kong very much built on competition, open markets, no protection. For example, in Australia, the government is going out of the way to protect everybody, Telstra, and the media moguls.
SNOWDON: And do you think in Australia's case, with our slow uptake, and delivery of broadband services that the economy has suffered?
BUDDE: Yes, I think so. I think that broadband is an important element for national infrastructure, that is leading to lots and lots innovations.
SNOWDON: So, given this new policy, how long before you could say Australia will rank as a first world telecommunications country?
BUDDE: We are roughly running four to five years behind, but we can pick up quickly. We don't have to wait four or five years. There is a huge pent up ??? demand in Australia for good quality broadband services. It has to be affordable, then you will start seeing that a majority of Australians that are now on what's called Fraudband yeah, will actually move to real good quality broadband within the next two years.
