Australia’s NBN too slow …
Google in Feb announced that they are planning to experiment with a 1Gigabit FTTH (Fiber to the home) network in selected communities in US. And our very own NBN promises 100Megabit only with a price tag of 40 billion. This may be fair enough, since our NBN is designed using proven technologies available in the market and not experimental ones, but for an venture that will span 8 to 10 years, the think tanks at NBN should be thinking about building a network to deliver services of the future and not only of the present.
I say our very own NBN Co. should partner with Google and experiment the same thing! Seems like a no brainer – build for the future, not for the present. At least I hope NBN Co. will be quick in adopting the latest innovations that are made in FTTH regardless of who the vendors are, and more importantly ensuring that the network is designed in such a way that reduces future costs and times for upgrades. Because otherwise, 8 years and 40 billion dollars later, we will still find ourselves on the back foot.
The crazy thing is there are people out there actively lobbying the government that we don’t need faster internet. As an example, Exetel executive John Linton who is very vocal in his opposition.
Of course what do you expect from a country which digs stuff up, sends it overseas where it is transformed into useful things and imported here where we buy them for a higher price.
The Consultant
May 12, 2010 at 10:40 pm
The Consultant… Please!
Excetel is an ISP and John Linton’s interest lies in his bottom line. And with the NBN, it is going to be affected, not to mention the increase in competition. Thats what the very reason why telstra was not party to the whole NBN initiative.
If they could only stop bickering and focus on building the NBN, build it right, and look to the possibiities. For e.g. here is a vision for the futue. A NMN – National Mobile Network. Fully integrated with the NBN as the backbone for NMN. Take the control away form mobile service providers, increase competition and watch the prices drop. For e.g. did you know that actual cost to a network provider for a 1min phone call is less than 1c, probably less. I see if I dig up the article… Hell, I pay less to call overseas from my mobile, how less? Only 1.2c per min.. You’d wonder how this can be possible when a local call costs 95c per minute!
I am looking forward to the NMN already.
Setu
May 14, 2010 at 1:05 pm