I've heard it said that, by the time we've made this mess, cleaned up
the mess and built what we need, Australia will have spent the better
part of $200 billion (half of it wasted on the mess). The delay in
getting the infrastructure that we so sorely need will lead to us
missing decades of opportunities.
Someone should be tied to a stake in the forecourt of Parliament House,
roasting over a slow fire.
<http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/04/10/the-experts-agree-turnbulls-nbn-is-a-national-tragedy/>
The disastrous rollout of Australia’s NBN is a national tragedy,
according to new research by one of the country’s most respected
engineers.
Professor Rodney Tucker, of Melbourne University, argues that Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s fateful decision as Communications
Minister to opt for Fibre to the Node (FTTN), has been an extremely
costly disaster.
While the rest of the world is opting for Fibre to the Premises
(FTTP), Australia is embracing an obsolete technology.
Professor Tucker’s paper, The Tragedy of Australia’s National
Broadband Network<http://telsoc.org/ajtde/2017-03-v5-n1/a94>, just
published in the Australian Journal of Telecommunications and Digital
Technology, argues that a worldwide tipping point has been reached.
Globally, the majority of connections are now through FTTP. Australia
is one of the very few countries using mass deployment of FTTN, with
poor results.
Professor Tucker concludes: “This situation is nothing short of a
national tragedy and a classic example of failed infrastructure policy
that will have long-term ramifications for Australia’s digital economy.”
The news comes after reports that Australia has slower internet speeds
than Kenya or Latvia – and is continuing to sink dramatically down the
world rankings.
America now has 250 “gigabit” cities using FTTP, proving a boon for
local economies. Australia has none.
Professor Tucker told The New Daily: “The NBN is a great loss of
opportunity. We are becoming a broadband backwater. It will have
profound effects.”
Associate Professor Mark Gregory, of RMIT University in Melbourne, was
equally scathing when he spoke to The New Daily.
“Every Australian expert could see what was happening with
technology,” he said. “The economic case used by the Coalition
government was nonsense from the outset.
“This is the largest single waste of public funds in Australia’s
history. Turnbull must take ownership of this mess. The cost to the
taxpayer is currently at $49.5 billion and there is every indication
the government will have to tip in another $5-10 billion.”
Paddy Manning, author of the Turnbull biography Born to Rule, told The
New Daily that Malcolm Turnbull had been sceptical of the NBN from day
one.
A tangle of copper wires in a puddle of stagnant water sums up the
NBN, experts say
A tangle of copper wires in a puddle of stagnant water sums up the
NBN, experts say.
“In the 1990s Turnbull made a fortune from the internet, more than $40
million,” Mr Manning said. “Unfortunately he drew the wrong lessons
from his experience. He thought there would not be enough demand for
superfast broadband.
“There was also a knee-jerk ideological wariness of government
enterprise and an unwillingness to embark on genuine long term nation
building infrastructure projects.
“The Coalition has to shoulder the blame for FTTN. It is a mistake. It
will prove an even bigger mistake when we have to find an untold
amount of money to upgrade it.”
Chief Executive of Internet Australia Annie Hurley told The New Daily
the government urgently needed to rethink the failed NBN. She
advocated a bipartisan approach, bringing together the finest
engineering minds in the country, including Professor Tucker, to plan
a way forward.
“We have turned a vision into a quagmire,” she said. “There is
sufficient evidence from around the globe that FTTN is an obsolete
technology, yet it continues to be rolled out. We are throwing all
this money at it, and we are going to have to come around and do it
all again. That is the tragedy.”
Andrew Johnson, chief executive of professional association the
Australian Computer Society told The New Daily: “We further reiterate
that the reach, speed and quality of an NBN is critical to Australia’s
future economic prosperity.”
A spokeswoman for the NBN did not respond to Professor Tucker’s
criticisms.
--
David Boxall | Australia's problem isn't fake news,
| it's fake government.
http://david.boxall.id.au | --Ross Gittins
Sydney Morning Herald 27 March 2017
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