Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 29 November 2006 11:25
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
The Western Australian Government's grand broadband plans is big on promises, very short on specifics and when the published details are examined closely, not all its cracked up to be.
Big on Promises: The government says it intends to pool the $100 million it spends on comms each year into a single 10 year $1 billion contract under which, presumably, it expects the chosen supplier to meet its current and evolving communications needs as well as "building a broadband network that will provide access to all Western Australians and industry."
And to be specific, premier Alan Carpenter said: "Communities such as those at Kununurra in the far north, the outer Perth metropolitan suburb of Kalamunda, or the Wheat belt community of Kukerin, will be expected to have the same access to this new privately-owned purpose-built broadband network as those in the city."
Carpenter said "speeds of 10 megabits per second [are] likely to become available in the initial stages." Taking the Premier at his word, this means 10Mbps in the Perth CBD and Kununurra in the far north. Even assuming there is a fair bit of 'fat' in the government's current telecoms spend, this is still a big call. But all is not quite what it seems.
You might think from the above quotes that the lucky recipient of this $1 billion 10 year contract will be required to build a broadband network capable of delivering 10Mbps to the door of every WA home and business that wants it. But that's not what the more detailed information on the Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR) website suggests - DoIR by the way reports to the Premier through his other role as minister for state development.
