States busy preparing for NBN benefits

State-level NBN preparations are moving ahead at full tilt, with Victoria and New South Wales seeing a very real hunger for the high-speed connectivity promised by the project – and well into the process of laying the groundwork.

Speaking at the CeBit Australia conference in Sydney, NSW NBN Taskforce chair Peter Duncan (right) and Victorian Science and Technology director Matthew Dummett expanded on some of the NBN preparatory work going on in their respective states, and underlined the “pent-up demand” for the new network. “We’re acutely aware the government needs to lead the way in making engagement happen – waiting until the network is constructed is not an option,” said Duncan. “We need to act early and strategically, and that is what we’re doing.” He said that the NSW taskforce, which also includes CSIRO’s Dr. Alex Zelinksy, NICTA’s Dr. Terry Percival, and ATUG MD Rosemary Sinclair, was currently focused on:
• working with NBN Co to maximise benefits for the state economy
• providing applications development and training
• ensuring the planning process supports a speedy rollout
• leveraging state-owned land to help the rollout
• working for a priority rollout in NSW.

Duncan also revealed that the NSW Taskforce has completed a comprehensive audit of existing energy, road and rail assets in NSW that could be used to boost the NBN rollout – something that
McKinsey and KPMG actually drew upon in the NBN implementation study. And he added that the state was considering trialling solutions to the challenge of fibering multi-dwelling units.

Victoria is also busily forging ahead with NBN preparations. Dummett forecast that demand for NBNgrade superfast broadband would soon outstrip supply, leading to an unmet demand for the fastest broadband options – with the level of unmet demand for these services already estimated at around 220,000 customers, about 14% of the market. “That is the pent-up demand for fast broadband in Victoria. And it certainly makes some of the assumptions in the implementation study look conservative!” he said.

The state has commissioned a new set of reports reports from Gibson Quai and Access Economics tracking broadband uptake, to provide in-depth analysis and forecasting into the NBN future. Meanwhile, said Dummett, it is continuing to lay NBN groundwork via its VicFibreLINKS protected fibre optic backbone infrastructure project; the A$20 million Innovation Investment Fund, tipped to help drive the adoption of broadband-based applications; and evidence-based research to help get local policy settings to support the network.
Petroc Wilton, CommsDay