Broadband Issues
One of the unresolved issues I faced during the run-up to the elections, when the two Party leaders were arguing over how fast was “fast” when it comes to the nationwide Broadband network, was: were both leaders competent to decide on the correct technology on which to spend our $50 billion?
Tony Abbott declared he was not competent to decide on such a big issue. The Prime Minister Julia Gillard, however, declared that what was best for our nation was her plan to roll out fibre optic cable to 97% of all houses in the nation. It could be done, hopefully, for $43 billion!
Everything depended on what Communications Minister Stephen Conroy advised. But neither he nor Julia Gillard has the training nor the technological skills to make such a commitment on behalf of our nation and future generations.
What I wanted to know was what could be faster and cheaper than even fibre optic? Will our present decision be hopelessly out of date, after all that expenditure? Sticking long lengths of cable through underground pipes to every house in the nation seems to be an antiquated system that could soon be out of date with wireless connections.
I understand that current wireless technologies are slower than fibre optic cable at the moment, but with new satellites coming into position and more powerful wireless transmissions available, in a country as vast as ours, is underground cable an old technology like telephone cables? Is cable the best answer for our needs in education, healthcare and business?
Vision for the future should look further than this. Technological developments are so remarkable these days that we can expect major developments coming from the private sector. Have you ever heard of anything that the Government does that is cheaper and faster than what the private sector delivers?
Can you imagine what it would be like if we still had the GPO with its line of telephone operators answering your call and plugging you in to the appropriate line that would eventually connect you to the number you were wanting?
I now read that a new generation of satellites are in the offing. Two international companies, WildBlue (which already owns and operates three satellites) and HughesNet, plan to launch new satellites in the near future, each with higher capacity and the promise of more incredible speed than ever before, making fibre cable look very old fashioned.
These companies say they will provide broadband and wireless technology faster and cheaper than cable ever could.
Further, with our vast distances between cities and regional areas, and many isolated properties in rural areas, wireless from satellites would seem to be the way to go. Cables of any sort have already passed their use by date. There is no vision in spending a great amount of money for providing better insulation for the ice-chest in every home when someone has invented the refrigerator!
REV HON DR GORDON MOYES AC MLC