I know it has been a few weeks since this was announced and there has been heaps in the press about it, but I think its still worthwhile to express one’s opinions about this topic, particularly as it is relevant to my websites www.prepaidplans.com.au and www.gonewireless.com.au.
Many of the comments out there have focussed on how much money this project will cost and what benefit we are likely to get out of it. Others have stated why do we need 100mbs, when what we have today is enough. Every opinion is a valid one in a democratic society that Australia is. My opinion is as follows:
The internet has transformed our lives. Whether we love the PC world or not, computers or devices that allow us to work and communicate are hear to stay. What is also true is that these devices and the way they work and communicate are changing and evolving so much, so quickly that it is so hard to keep up. What is good enough today for work, play and general communication is almost certainly not good enough tomorrow. Just think about what mobile phone handsets looked like 5 years ago and what they look like and do today. SMS was a craze some time ago, now we do videoing, emailing, chatting, web surfing, banking and stock trading all though our phones.
As the make up of Australia’s economy changes from agricultural and manufacturing to a very broad based service ecomony and I can remember my lecturers at Uni in the early 90s telling me about this shift, we need to have the infrastrucure available that will enable us to work effectively in a global economy, but also be competitive. We are a 1st world economy that is educated, we should be leading the world in the technology category.
The NBN is a vital piece of infrastructure that is needed to enable us to remain compitive but also give us the opportunity to lead. It will enable more of our children to develop and learn via the web, as well as be employed via it. Think about how much the web impacts our working lives every day.
Australia needs to be smart in how it invest its money but it also has to invest. Its one thing for Govts to rack up billions in surpluses and boast about how great a job they are doing at keeping us in the black, but Govts ar there to progress the nation, but just be its bankers. This is not a political statement, its my opinion that we need to invest our savings not just count the dollars and boast about it.
The Liberal Goft with all of its successes should have begun the road to investment some time ago but they didn’t. Maybe they were planning to but have now missed out. We need projects like this to enable a new era in Australian employment opportunities.
Fibre connection to the home is obviosuly not the only form of internet that we need to but it is the backbone. Wireless is fast emerging in terms of subscribers, but there are limitations as to how fast this form of connection can get. I am sure this will also change in 5 or 10 years and we also need to be ready to adapt our plans for this.
The GFC is a little over done I think. The economy is slowing and will slow down quite a bit more maybe not entirely due to our spending but certainly due the the flow on effect from the global slow down. This is the time that Govt needs to invest in their people and the country to stabilise things until moods shift and the private sectore has a greater appetite for investments.
