To believe we need 100Mbps you have to have some vision

Stuart Corner
Friday, 12 August 2011 14:53

Opinion and Analysis

It's a question that has been asked a thousand times since the Labor Government unveiled its $43b NBN plan promising 100Mbs to the 93 percent of Australian homes and businesses that would be connected to fibre: "What will we use all that bandwidth for?"

And it was asked again to a panel of IT industry luminaries on Tuesday at a Trans-Tasman Business Circle lunch in Sydney this week: "What are some of the ideas coming into your minds as to what you will be able to use that kind of capacity for once it is available on a broad basis."

As with so many of the 'answers' to this question,' not one member of the panel was able to come up with a convincing application that really needed that kind of bandwidth. All the applications mentioned could easily be supported with widespread availability of the kind of bandwidths available on today's networks.

First up was Peter Westerveld, CIO of Minter Ellison Lawyers, who said: "A lawyer is a trusted advisor for a business and'¦to become a trusted advisor, to be able to easily connect with people is essential. So anything that can be done to make that connectivity easy and better than it its today especially on a global basis is very important to us, especially on a global basis. "Hardly convincing and of course the NBN will do nothing for connectivity beyond Australia's borders.

Next to have a go was Glenn Archer, first assistance secretary, Policy and Planning Division, AGIMO. "It opens up enormous opportunities in terms of how we build service delivery platforms and offerings for citizens'¦We know the Internet is now their preferred channel for dealing with Government. We also know that where citizens have access to broadband they find it easier and more effective'¦One of the problems we have today in the way they build web services is that they are constrained to the lowest common denominator so they tend to be very 'skinny'. When we have a pervasive 12Mbps across the country it completely changes the dynamic."

Jim Hassell, NBN Co's head of product development and sales, also focussed on ubiquity rather than speed. "The challenge is being able to get to a wide range of offices and customers that don't have high speed links'¦It is being able to provide a consistent response to customers wherever they may sit."

CONTINUED