Stuart Corner
Friday, 19 September 2008 12:09
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 4
Secondly, Caio says: "there are strong indications the market is delivering investment in NGA Virgin Media continues the deployment of high speed services on its network and is on course to make up to 50 Mbps available to around 12.5 million homes by 2009.
"BT has announced its intention invest £1.5 billion in an NGA deployment covering 10 million homes. Other service providers are evaluating ways to upgrade their access networks from DSL to fibre. Additionally local initiatives, including some innovative investment models, are gaining momentum in various regions and cities."
Alas, that is where Australia differs significantly. There is no real competition in access infrastructure with Telstra owning the copper and being the dominant cable network owner.
Third: "Although demand for bandwidth and internet traffic continues to exhibit strong growth, there is little evidence that, in the short term, UK consumers will experience a detriment due to the lack of an extensive NGA network."
In urban areas of Australia the same would be true. And rural? Once again, remember Opel.
With these points in mind, Caio warns that "[these conclusions] should not lead to complacency. In the mid- to long term, Broadband/NGA will become a critical digital utility, essential to the competitiveness of any country and to the quality of life of its citizens."
The report concludes that "Because of this, the Government and Ofcom, [which fulfills roles held in Australia by the ACMA and the ACCC but which has more power than either of them] as the two principal entities involved in determining the efficient and effective deployment of NGA, need to play an active leadership role in shaping broadband policies."
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