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Slow road to broadband super highway

Posted on October 27, 2009, 3:03pm and updated on October 28, 2009 at 7:34 am

A Green Triangle chapter of the Australian Computer Society will be formed as the region prepares to catch up to capital cities on the information super highway with the roll-out of new infrastructure to accelerate communication.

“Implementation of the National Broadband Network will mean people in Mount Gambier will move from broadband that is at best a couple of megabits per second to more than 100,” ACS telecommunications board director Professor Reg Coutts told The Border Watch.

“As engineers would say, it will be the difference between DC and daylight.”

He spoke on Thursday evening at the Silver Birch Motel during an ACS community forum about the implications of the $43b network after previously being involved in advising government on the proposal to bring high-speed connections to 90pc of the nation’s households.

The roll out of high-speed optical infrastructure across Australia is expected to take eight years and Mr Coutts said a timetable was not available to identify when Mount Gambier would benefit.

However, he said an issue remained about how the 10pc of Australia not serviced by the new network would be catered for.

“They shouldn’t be forgotten,” he said, explaining telecommunication service levels were one of the obvious disparities between city and rural areas.

He said while the roll-out would deliver new infrastructure to Mount Gambier, it was not known how far the network would extend outside the city.

“Small areas in the region may miss out,” he said.

“Someone 10km out of Mount Gambier who can’t get DSL as they are more than 4km from the exchange will be asking ‘what does this mean for me?’”

Mr Coutts said the government had committed to satellite and advanced wireless technology to service people not connected to the national network, but only in broad terms, with more information needed on timing and details.

However, he said the broader region would benefit from dramatic changes, not only in speed, but also pricing and services as the industry structure would change.

“If you are in Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide you have many more competitive options than you do in Mount Gambier — that will change,” he said.

  • Full report in The Border Watch on Wednesday.
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