I'm glad this discussion has been brought up in this community. At the time NBN was first mentioned the cost was quoted at ~$39B, and google had ~$30B in cash.
The IIF & IIFF, that help VC's invest in the AU space is ~$192M over 4 years. And they have to match it dollar for dollar and work hard to get it. Please pull me up if my figures are wrong. Further, as far as I know there's not been any explicit discussion about investment in education around how to turn 'fast' internet into economic/cultural benefit for AU. Nor any explicit discussion or investment in making sure we have infrastructure bringing bandwidth into the country (as far as I know http://www.vocus.com.au laid the 3rd cable in). My point is, fast internet anywhere only matters if we a) have capacity and willingness to invest and b) have the ability to teach old and new how to turn that connection into cultural/economic benefit, and that is what the debate should be about. This year Obama met with Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs and ~20 other US tech CEO's. Julia/the AU govt. should be engaging with Atlassian etc. especially before they spend that much on infrastructure they don't completely understand. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
