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NBN could increase digital divide
Twisted Wire
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The digital divide is often described as the discrepancy in the availability of new technologies, such as broadband. On that basis, the roll-out of the National Broadband Network, extending broadband to almost every Australian household, should be good news, as it should close that divide.
Well maybe not. In the US, broadband is available to practically every household, yet 80 million adults and 13 million children don't have access at home. They haven't signed up for reasons of price, inclination and lack of digital literacy.
If a third of our population refuses to get online the NBN could actually broaden the divide between the digital haves and have-nots. So is this an issue the government should be tackling. Obviously the computers for school kids initiative is a start, but don't we need a more comprehensive approach?
In the US the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has looked at the issue in depth in its report "Broadband Adoption and Use in America". The FCC presents its National Broadband Plan to the Congress later this month. Meanwhile, we have an infrastructure project, but where's the plan on how we will use it and how we obfuscate any detrimental social consequences?
In this week's program you'll hear from:
- Nicholas Gruen, economist and former chair of the Government 2.0 Taskforce
- John Horrigan, consumer researcher director at the Federal Communications Commission
- Brian Mefford, president of Connected Nation
Do we care about those who choose not to be part of the digital economy? Or could their non-participation have a broader impact that will effect us all?
Listen to the program then tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Talkback
Depends...
It all depends on what you mean by coverage. To the home should not be the only target.
Community access points (be those Libraries or similar facilities, including maybe new ones), that allow those not financial enough to participate or provide an environment for people to discover why access is important should also be part of the NBN process.
Those locations could also offer Telepresence, training, and government access, assistance etc...
Marc Boschma March 5th, 2010strange
Phil, it seems odd to criticise the NBN by inference on the basis that initially some people will not access it.
Not everybody owns a car, so should that mean that no roads are built?
Back when roads were built and cars became cheaper through mass production, the level of usage rose rapidly which benefitted everybody, not just the vehicle owners.
Anonymous March 5th, 2010Not my point
I'm not criticising the NBN. My point is that are we should also be addressing the other question of increasing the participation rate. Rather than the analogy of cars and roads, what if we decided to build public transport for everyone because it's better for the environment. We'd still need to convince people not to use their cars before we saw the benefits.
I'm just questioning whether there's too much of a "build it and they'll come" approach in all this.
Phil Dobbie March 8th, 2010I disagree.
There is doubt about "Build it and they'll come", because there is actually a lack of "Building Infrastructure" for the use of Telecommunications and Broadband sector for businesses and public.
We have Road upgrades, Health upgrades, Education upgrades, but what about Telecommunications and Broadband? The Analogy of using Cars and Roads is a perfect one, The packets can be the Cars, and The Road is the pipe.
A recent poll via BBC believes that High Speed Broadband should be a "Human Right".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8548190.stm
I consider the use of "Digital Divide" as a negative thing, what SHOULD be happening is Access to High Speed Broadband should be considered as a Human Right(or at least ran like a utility to every home). And the only way for that to happen is to get government involvement (Since shareholders don't like spending money).
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Digital Divide
The stated aim of the NBN is to provide 90% coverage. This is far better that the status quo where current xDSL coverage nowhere near approaches that figure, and has the double disadvantage that a lot of areas experience a shortage of ports thus unable to meet simple demand for connectivity, or worse congested exchanges where the throughput in some cases rivals dial up. And due to the near monopolist behaviour of Tesltra, in swathes of suburbs across the land no fixed line competition is even possible (Thank you Pair Gain).
In addition the status quo will not deliver speed greater than 24mbit under almost any reasonable circumstance. Faster xDSL technologies rely on moving cabinets closer to homes - a large capital cost. If you have to build more cabinets and reconfigure the netwrok, surely it's better for a bit more to transition to fibre?
As data rates increase, driven my consumer demand from here in line with overseas, the very copper itself - already operating way above it's original spec of 4khz - will simply be unable to keep pace.
In a twenty years we have gone from 33.6 to 56k to 256k to 1.5mbit and now to 24mbit. If we follow the trend, even being conservative, the demand will be for 100mbit connections in as little as a decade, maybe half a gigabit in twenty years. DSL cannot provide this. Fibre optic can and still have plenty of room to grow.
It is far better to upgrade now to a fibre based system, not now, not for even the next decade, but beyond to fifty and a hundred years. The same infrastructure we put in now will last that long.
Yes, yes, yes, but....
I'm not sure how that relates to this post, which is saying even with 90% plus coverage there will still be a lot of people who choose not to use it. Should we be doing something to encourage take-up other than just building the infrastructure. Perhaps I don't but my points across clearly enough in these podcasts (?)