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“This broadband upgrade will bring the next generation of the internet to Melburnians, enabling new work-from-home, learning, security, entertainment, health care and energy-saving choices at home.
“It will help spawn an innovative, video-based, applications and content services sector in Australia. It will enable households to do the things that they want to do, but can’t do at today’s broadband speeds.
“Families will be able to choose a high-definition movie from an online catalogue and download it in a little over a minute to watch on the family’s big-screen TV. At the same time, they could watch their favourite sport on FOXTEL in high-definition, with instant match statistics at their fingertips and, in the near future, control of camera angles.
“Simultaneously, they could share a video file in a high-resolution video conference with friends and family, as well as review test results with their doctor, without leaving home.
“As well as super-fast broadband, it is important that this upgrade will turn the cable network into a two-way, fully interactive platform paving the way to an array of existing and next generation services for customers.
“As Telstra has done with Next G and Next IP in wireless and business broadband, we intend to leverage our cable network to lead the market in providing world leading services to meet our customers’ individual needs,” Trujillo concluded.
How will competitors react? What will the Australian Government say? How does this affect the National Broadband Network? When will other Australian cities get the same upgrade? Will the cable network ever be expanded to service more consumers and business?
These questions and many more will undoubtedly be explored at today’s Q&A briefing, with the full set of repercussions still to come.
One thing is for certain: Telstra may have lost the first round of the NBN battle, but it certainly has not yet lost the war.
