Conroy talks up NBN at CeBIT broadband forum

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 09:51

Opinion and Analysis

The absence of Telstra from the NBN process has created widespread skepticism that the network can be built by any of the other would be providers, including Singtel Optus.

The Government has committed $4.7 billion to the NBN project, promising the network would provide high-speed internet access to 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses, and most estimates have the ultimate cost of building the network to be at least $10 billion.

“Investment in broadband infrastructure will provide a boost to short-term employment opportunities while creating a foundation for our future economy,” Senator Conroy said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier told the CeBIT official opening crowd that investment in information and communications technology (ICT) was a critical response to the economic crisis and that ICT was a priority of the German Government’s economic recovery packages.

Chancellor Merkel said the German Government was committed to a timetable that would connect 75 per cent of its regions to super-fast 50Mbps internet connection by 2014 in order to generate long-term momentum for economic growth through the creation of new services. By comparison, the Australian FTTN NBN promises speeds of between 12Mbps and 20Mbps.

Governor Schwarzenegger, who has led a delegation of 50 Californian high tech companies to CeBIT, said the technology sector would play a huge role not just in the global economic recovery, but also in delivering solutions to global problems like reducing carbon emission or revolutionising health care.

This there was no official delegation of Australian companies, unlike the glory days of the 1990s when Austrade displayed a double-story stand with Fosters Beer on tap and more than two dozen Australian technology exhibitors.

While the number of exhibitors at CeBIT had fallen by 25 per cent this year as a result of the global economic crisis, the 4,300 exhibitors from 69 countries still made it the biggest ICT event on the planet.

CeBIT in Hannover is the (massively) big sister event of CeBIT Australia, to be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour from May 12-14.

Hannover Fairs Australia Managing Director Jackie Taranto, who is currently in Germany attending CeBIT with Senator Conroy, said that CeBIT Australia was now firmly entrenched as the region’s most important ICT event, and through CeBIT Hannover was an important trade connection into Europe.

“CeBIT Australia is in its eighth year and has grown to become a sizeable global event in its own right,” Ms Taranto said.

Ms Taranto is leading a delegation of Australian business and research leaders to CeBIT.