Stan Beer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 09:51
Opinion and Analysis
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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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