So much speed, so little time

A new report on just how long the National Broadband Network might actually take to get going set all the warning bells going for me.
 
Goldman Sachs JB Were's paper suggested that the network roll-out mightn't begin for another two years and that only half the country's homes would have access by 2017.
 
And the target of 90 percent? Maybe not till 2025 the authors predicted. That?s too long, and we need to be seeing much more detail and progress on the issue by the Government.
 
Of course you can probably expect private companies like Telstra to just get going and put in the high-speed infrastructure - as they are already doing in Melbourne - regardless of what happens with the NBN. I hope so.
 
But even then I'm afraid that we may still be leaving the most important group behind - the consumer.
 
So far there's been a lot of rumours about the possible high costs, but not much discussion of just what access to something as incredible as say IPTV will do. Not only in terms of choice and flexibility of content, but the ability to teleconference and radically shake up the way we work-and out of our cars and planes much more for a start.
 
And I'm seeing zip public information about what also this will mean for homes as well. That?s one reason that I and groups like Foxtel, Ai Group, Clipsal and Teltsra are now working to get some technology standards for Australian homes (see www.copper.com.au <http://www.copper.com.au> ).

Why is that necessary? Because without it you'll have a very messy market with no guarantees homes will be able to deliver the optic fibre fed technology and a lot of missed opportunities.
 
Broadband is not just for Facebook or YouTube any more, it's going to be one of the most important technologies to have ever come home and we need to make sure that it not only gets there fast, but that we can deal with it properly.
 
John Fennell
jjfennell@copperdev.com