Conroy talks up NBN at CeBIT broadband forum

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 08:51

Opinion and Analysis

The National Broadband Network (NBN) will be the greatest thing since sliced bread and is the answer to Australia's economic woes, if one is to believe the rhetoric from the Minister for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy at the world's biggest technology trade fair this week. Speaking to a high level conference on broadband at CeBIT in Hannover Germany, Senator Conroy equated the NBN with economic stimulus.

CeBIT is by far the world's largest IT&T event and attracts around 500,000 visitors to a fair ground the size of 11 football fields with about 25 massive exhibition halls displaying anything from mobile telephones and laptops to the most sophisticated high level telecommunications carrier systems.

The event was officially opened on Monday night by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While the multi-billion dollar construction of the NBN would contribute to more immediate economic stimulus, it was the network’s long-term contribution to productivity growth and new market opportunities that made it strategically so important for Australia, Senator Conroy told the CeBIT Conference.

Senator Conroy said there was now broad acceptance among both developing and mature economies that the roll-out of high-speed broadband networks was critical to delivering long-term growth.

“The countries that roll-out these networks will be better placed to seize the economic and social opportunities that high-speed broadband enables,” Senator Conroy said.

As the Global Financial Crisis has unfolded over the past year, an increasing weight of opinion has formed for broadband as an economic stimulus,” he said.

Senator Conroy is currently considering five separate bids for the NBN project and is expected to announce a partner for the project soon. However, Telstra is currently not one of the contenders, having been omitted from the tender process under controversial circumstances.

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