Now that the Australian Government has formed NBN Co, the race is on to identify the implications for business and consumers.
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National Broadband Network
A user's perspective
Now is the time for consumers and business operators to be involved in the public debate and planning of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN). Damien Tampling, Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) leader, said these two groups will drive the success or failure of the NBN. “It is imperative that the people who will actually be using the NBN are considered from the beginning and not once the NBN’s infrastructure has already been built, or even at the implementation study stage,” Mr Tampling said.
Until now, the discussions have revolved around the building and financing of this major infrastructure project. The focus should now turn to the groups that will ultimately drive the project’s success. The NBN has the potential to completely transform the way we work, live and operate in Australia if we carefully plan and maximise the infrastructure’s potential. And that will only be achieved if the end-user consumer and businesses’ needs are factored into the planning.
The Federal Government needs to identify what impact the NBN will have on specific industries and businesses to consider likely drivers of end-user demand properly, such as design, pricing, return on investment and funding issues. It is also essential to create a strong and competitive operating environment, in addition to considering the factors that will drive consumers to move to the new network.
The NBN is likely to bring a number of unexpected issues to the surface. As such, legislation will also be progressively required to cope with a converged digital economy where issues of privacy, service provision, access regimes, regulation, competition and security are redefined as a consequence of faster broadband speeds.
The report:
- Highlights many of the likely end-user demands that should be factored into the design, construction and delivery of the NBN
- Analyses the NBN’s short, medium and long-term opportunities
- Provides relevant international examples of how broadband infrastructure is used overseas
- Discusses the uses of the NBN in ‘smart home’ automation, e-health, smart metering, telecommunications, television (including hardware and software), home phones, video conferencing technology, education and commerce.
It concludes by identifying seven key factors that must be considered for the proposed NBN to be successfully adopted by mainstream Australia. They are:
- End-user retail packaging and migration
- Competition and regulation
- NBN Company funding and structuring
- Design and construction
- Support for innovation and delivery of new applications
- Disruption due to the Federal Government election cycle
- Vertical and horizontal integration of private sector industries, and government departments and utilities.
Download the report below.
