BROADBAND BREAKTHROUGH?

Is the tide turning on NBN sentiment?

Despite a concerted disinformation campaign by the Opposition, it seems that mainlanders are scrabbling to get connected to the fast, fibre network.

According to NBN Co, 90 per cent of households in some regional cities have already signed up. That compares with around 51 per cent of Tasmanians.

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Fibre Future

It's amazing to think that this election was largely decided by the issue of broadband - by a man who admits to not even using a computer himself. But even without personal knowledge and skills one can still be a visionary. And this is what Tony Windsor has demonstrated, describing broadband policy as a "game breaker":

"You do it right, you do it once, you do it fibre."


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Internet of Things

Finland has just made it a legal right to have 1mbps broadband.

It's well below the fastest speeds available in most countries, though still better than many Australians enjoy. And by 2015, Finland will expand that legal right to 100-megabit broadband access.

More importantly it signifies that internet access is starting to be seen as a utility rather than a luxury.

As governments increasingly put services online, they have a duty to ensure that citizens can access them easily and for a fair price. But even more critically than this, connectivity is vital for the "Internet of Things".

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