Testing the NBN vision: Can aerial construction truly deliver 'a historic nation-building investment focussed on Australia's long-term national interest'?

摘要

The Rudd government announced in 2009 its intention to roll out a fibre-to-the-home optical fibre-basednnational broadband network, proclaiming that the initiative would be a historic nation-building investmentnfocussed on Australia's long-term national interest. This paper examines the appropriateness of such anvision where the network, being a government-mandated provider of last resort carrying lifeline telecom-nmunication services, is to rely on infrastructure held up by electricity poles. An initiative so constructednoutstandingly fails the basic notion of creating 21nstncentury broadband as a building block of Australia'snfuture digital economy.