Fiber to the Home National Broadband Network
Why does Australia need a Fiber to the Home National Broadband Network now?
The importance of vision
There are three types of people in this debate, 1.) Those with vision for the nation of Australia, 2.) those who simply have no vision, and 3.) those who have a short-term, self-serving vision.
Vision for the future is more important than the facts of the present in directing ones course; why? Because vision is not just about seeing facts, but about an intimate knowledge in which way these facts are moving and an understanding of where they will end up.
It is small minded to live without vision, but it becomes a tragedy when one participates in deciding the future of the nation with a self-serving vision.
It’s unfortunate in politics that we frequently have to contend with others who lack of vision oppose anything new or costly, or contend with those who negate concern for the nation with self serving vision through their ties to old orders, companies, or monopolies caught out of line to the path for the greater good, we shouldn’t accept them, or their arguments.
We do need vision, but it’s necessary that the vision of the great is underpinned by united, conscientious action, or our vision will become dwarfed by the formidable forces of apathy, and self servitude.
Technology will make or break us, we need to embrace it at any cost; it’s a no-brainer.
When planning technology the overbearing need for vision rather than just facts can’t be underestimated – and none more importantly than planning the backbone of technology: broadband. It’s obvious that technology is constantly changing and expanding with snowballing velocity, however that’s not all that technology is:
Technology is not only driving, not only supplying or assisting our existence, it is increasingly becoming our existence, how can we deny it?
There is no denying it; there is nothing that technology hasn’t embraced, not only, touched, not only effected but embraced, and this trend will not stop until the next age, which eludes us indefinitely. For this reason, technology is our unavoidable future, the faster and deeper we can become technologically minded, the sooner we will have our future.
It’s a great race, we have to be in it to win it.
As a nation, we are in a great race, a race where nations compete for each others trade and in turn build their empires, not necessarily of geographical prominence, but of quality of life and of ideals, these ideals of freedom, and liberty that are the heart of us; ideals our forebears have fought and died to protect from other forces which have sought to enslave us, forces which still exist. As the lessons of history repeatedly confirm, a nation’s ability to grok technology can send it to the forefront of the nations, or it can make its status a third world country, or else delegate it completely to history as an annexed nation.
Technological aptitude is priceless in terms of a nation, we need to embrace technology at any cost.
yes, even at quality for life in the short term, even at the cost of other infrastructure in the short term, because because if we don’t embrace it, none of it will be around for us to enjoy – however any advancement in technologising life will surely pay us back in terms of quality of life, and ease of building our other infrastructure. Any advancement in technology therefore is an investment, and should be seen as such.
Broadband’s role in advancing technology.
How technology relies on communication:
Now that we fully understand the need for technology, let’s understand why technology relies on broadband, the word broadband has many uses, originally it implied that a signal being sent over a medium used the full capacity of the said medium; however we will assume its larger use in which it means “high speed internet”. To understand broadband’s relationship with technology, we must understand broadband’s relationship with the fundamental use and reason for technology: communication. Communication pretty much IS technology because without communication, technology would not spread, would not be understood, could not interact, or could not be built in partnership, therefore we would be left in the dark ages each time someone with an idea passed on.
The internet – the ultimate in communication:
We have many forms of communication; communication comes in many shapes and forms with increasing complexity, from speech, to smoke signals, to letters - however there is nothing that comes even close to the effectiveness of digital communication, speech is fine, but you can’t hear someone across the ocean, the telephone is fine, but you can’t see the person speaking, letters are fine but they take days to arrive – we have, through a process of advancement found our final idea of the ultimate communication: the internet.
The internet is a paradigm shift from normal communication because instead of just trying to amplify communication or modulate it, the internet allows communication to be assembled or stored within electronic media, and be ported anywhere and disassembled in anyway a receiver wishes to, and the sender allows. Also the internet has no preferred format – the internet – can carry any other type of communication eg. video, telephone calls, facsimile, virtual reality, and much more, it is also not inherently limited by distance, volume, number of channels, or number parties communicating at any given time.
The above is why the internet is the unchallenged leading method of communication across the globe with an increasing margin.
Technology <=> Communication <=> Internet <=> Broadband
Just as no one could argue for national prominence while ignoring technology, or argue for technology and neglect the internet, no-one could argue for the internet and neglect broadband, no-one – broadband is the de-facto medium that carries the internet, there is no other competitive choice, through these logical steps it becomes obvious that broadband is unanimous with technology.
The need for a public High Speed National Broadband Network
Why the free market hasn’t worked for public infrastructure, why it never will
Some detractors from a national Broadband network say that the free market (ie. supply and demand) could work for Australia’s broadband needs, but has it so far?
Telstra’s Monopoly
The free market has done little to build the broadband network in Austrlia, even Telstra was not created by the free market, Telstra was a government entity sold to its shareholders as a combined wholesale and retailer of the fixed line telephone network to share holders from 1997. Since the sale Telstra has “grown fat sucking the teat of the copper wire that was provided to them”, they have upgraded some exchanges for ADSL and ISDN internet connections but due to its monopoly in the market has done little to increase the speed to anything close to an acceptable standard, and this speed is anything but accessible across the board. Official Govt. Source on Telstra sale. The Telstra monopoly ensures that telstra remains both a wholesaler and retailer of broadband, and is largely unregulated in the price it sets, as well as the fact that Telstra routinely blocks access to infrastructure from competing networks who either have to duplicate the technology, or can not move into an area.
Because of not only the free market, but free market monopoly of Telstra, which has dragged its heels in the upgrading or opening of its networks, Australia has one of the lowest rates of broadband connections, with the lowest speeds and highest costs in the western hemisphere.
Many Australians choose not to take high speed internet, does that mean they don’t want or need it?
It has been said that of the areas that high speed internet is available in Australia, there are relatively few people that take up high speed broadband, however, any allusions to this must be tempered with the realisation of the prohibitively high costs high speed broadband subscribers pay compared to other nations, and also the ridiculous conditions attached, which are not heard of in other nations – conditions including download limits, peak and off-peak times, and gross asymmetry which leaves the higher speed broadband out of reach to average Australian’s, and detrimentally affects commerce, education, science and medicin. It is said that the low takeup of high speed services indicate that Australians don’t want or need it, but perhaps a better measure is looking at what some Australian’s including small business actually pay for high speed internet despite the high cost involved.
Private sectors priority is its executives and its shareholders.
The private sector will always look after executives, and its share holders, the greater public is a very distant third. Free market purists only have to look at the state of the market now, after bank-headed-bubble which collapsed recently in the US, and still affects the rest of the world.
Public Infrastructure should be in public hands!
While free market capitalism can help open up some areas, there are some universal necessities that should be provided by a democratic government, public infra-structure being one of them. Long term planning of infrastructure can not be handled by short term needs, or the shaky vendors who supply them – this is the reason why we have town planning, we have a national highway system, reminiscent of way back when the Roman Empire grew the way it did because of roads that connected the world’s traders. Imagine if the government decided to let free market rule and instead let a bunch of farmers build connecting toll roads however they felt they wanted to, in different directions, around their prize crops and their houses, and could charge whatever they wanted. This is analogous to national broadband infrastructure too.
The Private sector can not handle something of the magnitude of what Australia needs; there will be too many squabbles, too many cut corners, too many bottlenecks, too many incompatibilities, asynchronicity and pricing schemes, and too many people who simple can’t connect because no company sees it as profitable to supply them.
Which company is benevolent enough to be fair, which company is large enough, which has the staying power? There fact is that the private sector can not provide a national broadband network for the real reasons that we need it, and certainly not any time soon.
What benefits will a public high speed National Broadband network provide?
Because of broadband high speed National Broadband Network will provide countless benefits to every aspect of society,
NBN will fuel our home grown content industry
For a nation of innovators who have made world changing discoveries, inventions, and designs in every field we have little to show for ourselves as far as innovation goes on the world wide web – and it’s no surprise that this is a direct result of the unavailability and price of high speed internet, this has severely stunted the usually innovative enterprise of Australian developers, which have to watch as the world zooms past them, a world with ubiquitous networking, connected communities and large and able base of connected consumers.
Australia has missed the boat as far as web applications go, there is a growing consensus that all the big ideas out there are taken and that opportunities for new and innovative web applications are dwarfed by predatory companies who snap up any seminal idea before it gets off the ground.
Despite this, we can never concede defeat, we must not be left behind, and given the opportunity, Australian’s have been known to defy the odds and become very successful.
NBN will fuel home grown hosting infrastructure
Australia already has world-class data-centers (the powerhouses of the internet), but with faster broadband around Australia, and fatter pipes to our front door, other nations will start to host web servers on our own soil, and fuel much needed economic growth and jobs.
NBN will enable “Thin Client architecture”
If Australia had a high speed national broadband network, it could revolutionise computing in the country by allowing “thin client architecture” to relocate most of our computing resources local centralised data-houses, this would have untold benefits:
A thin client is a bare bones PC where less is more, the bulk of the software, hardware and processing power is contained or happens on a choice of more reliable, higher specification servers elsewhere on a connected network (eg. the internet). It can be a very small, low-powered device giving lower costs to purchase and to operate per seat. By keeping a few servers busy and many thin clients lightly loaded, users can expect easier system management and lower costs, as well as all the advantages of networked computing: central storage/backup and easier security. Because the thin client is relatively passive and low-maintenance, but numerous, the entire system is simpler and easier to install and to operate. As the cost of hardware plunges and the cost of employing a technician, buying energy, and disposing of waste rises, the advantages of thin clients grow. From the user’s perspective, the interaction with monitor, keyboard, and cursor changes little from using a thick client. A high-end server can power over 700 clients, and a few data-centers full of many servers could serve the entire nations computer needs should this be a chosen plan. Thin clients are a great investment for schools and businesses who want to maximize the number of workstations they can purchase on a budget. A simple $100 unit could replace a computer in a school or business. It would also save a lot of power in the long run, due to low power consumption. The main advantages of thin clients are: Easier mass deployment of networks, easier to secure, data is kept safer from corruption, lower Hardware costs, they save electricity and produce less heat and wastes, less noise, easier replacement, portability of user location, less likely to be stolen (worth less), operable in extreme and hostile environments, more efficient use of computer resources, simple to upgrad, and less wasted hardware
NBN will take Australia’s world class education facilities truly online.
Online education is known to be of great value in the United States:
First it makes readings, original sources, or specialised materials more easily accessible to students. Second, it encourages more out-of-class student reflection and interaction among students or with the instructor. And, third, it helps to meet the expectations of students who increasingly anticipate that courses will be supplemented with online materials or discussions.
Online education also provides flexibility in ways traditional education can’t in terms of points of entry and exit, program components, modes of delivery, greater learner control and choice regarding the content, appropriate learner support systems such as better access to information on courses and services, and appropriate learning resources.
Australia’s education facilities are world class; there are about there are about 400,000 international students in the country this year (2009) and this number is growing every year, from about 200,000 in 2002. With high speed internet accessible to most of Australia this will not only drastically change the way Australians learn by enabling richer immersion in course-ware with greater learning outcomes, it will also enable world class Australian facilities to find a world audience, but most importantly, a high speed national broadband network will allow more young Australian’s to forgo traveling stay in their home, and home town to undertake a university degree.
NBN will enable unimaginable advancement through providing a platform for unleashed creativity
The human mind is the most creative thing on the planet, so when endowed and liberated with a new tool, unimaginable things happen in terms of the creations that turn out: you just never know how technology will be used and built upon, and the thought of combining the power of high speed internet with the ingenuity in the nation of Australia is amazing.
An example of new technology liberating others to create is the ways people have found to use the humble iPod.
NBN Will allow a plethora of bundled Services
There are some concerns being publicised about the cost to the user of the planned NBN, which in the unlikely event they are above $100 per month, will make the price less burdensome due to these value added services:
Digital Television services
The current free-to air and pay TV services could be offered online as part of the packaged deal.
Voip telephone services
This is the big one, and perhaps Telstra’s real reason to keep its monopoly on the Australian broadband network: There is no reason, with the planned infra-structure that the Australian government could not institute a free national VOIP service, this service would require no extra architecture and could be run of the National Broadband Network, hence allowing free calling on a national scale, the only thing the Government would have to introduce is a directory per-se and allow customers to supply their own equipment. Of course if the government does not do it, it is simple enough for the free market to do, but with the free market there will be a loss of ubiquity, transparency, and interoperability.
NBN will bring untold benefit to the environment
There are great benefits to the environment in store if we migrate to a high speed National Broadband system
In 2007, before the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) plan was unveiled, Climate Risk, an environmental analysis expert identified some ways we can achieve a 5% reduction in Australia’s national emissions while also saving $6.6 billion a year for homes and business.
- High-definition videoconferencing.
- Remote management of household appliances which are not being used.
- Better logistics systems which do not allow vehicles to move around without loads.
- Teleworking, which people to work in a virtual office without ever leaving their home.
- Increasing renewable energy use with networked demand-side management. By 2015, they could reduce Australia’s greenhouse emissions by about 27 million carbon tonnes a year
And this study was just focused on the short term, before the current Fiber to the Home plans were announced.
Fiber Optics are the ultimate in networking technology, choosing fiber: another no brainer
Fiber Optics is the fastest, cheapest, purest, un-improvable digital communications medium, and arguably: technology on the planet. Against its only competitors: copper or wireless, fiber optics trumps them both. The only thing that will come ahead of fiber optics as a communications medium will be teleportation, telekenisis, or just… understanding.
There is no question that we need a National Broadband Network, and there should be no question that this network should run on fiber.