Australia was supposed to develop its broadband infrastructure further, along with other developed nations, but the country somehow found itself dropping well in terms of Internet speeds.
The country’s average connection speeds is only on the 44 place, down 4 lines from the 2013 report which estimated online connection speeds and broadband uptake worldwide. Some believe that the drop-off is the result of delay, indecision and policy change on the national broadband network, which is the fibre optic network implemented nationally. The observers complain that each policy change with respect to the national broadband network resulted in a 2-year delay in infrastructure being rolled out.
With the Labor government, the initial intention was to create a fibre-to-the-node network, but then the plans changed to fibre-to-the-premise broadband. Since the national network couldn’t use Telstra’s copper network, it had to build its own network, and this could take another four years. However, when the country had a change of government, the approach to Internet also changed to the initial plan.
In the meantime, the creators of the national network and the government also face pressure from the United States that pushes to change the definition of broadband. The definition of broadband Internet was suggested to change from 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload to 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up. This change would raise more doubts if the network is not engineered correctly.
To help Australia to move its broadband rankings to at least the top 10, the country needs to get on and do it, because any more delay would have just the opposite effect. In the meantime, many industry observers are critical of the initial approach, saying that copper could slow broadband connection speeds by up to 50%.
The country’s average connection speeds is only on the 44 place, down 4 lines from the 2013 report which estimated online connection speeds and broadband uptake worldwide. Some believe that the drop-off is the result of delay, indecision and policy change on the national broadband network, which is the fibre optic network implemented nationally. The observers complain that each policy change with respect to the national broadband network resulted in a 2-year delay in infrastructure being rolled out.
With the Labor government, the initial intention was to create a fibre-to-the-node network, but then the plans changed to fibre-to-the-premise broadband. Since the national network couldn’t use Telstra’s copper network, it had to build its own network, and this could take another four years. However, when the country had a change of government, the approach to Internet also changed to the initial plan.
In the meantime, the creators of the national network and the government also face pressure from the United States that pushes to change the definition of broadband. The definition of broadband Internet was suggested to change from 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload to 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up. This change would raise more doubts if the network is not engineered correctly.
To help Australia to move its broadband rankings to at least the top 10, the country needs to get on and do it, because any more delay would have just the opposite effect. In the meantime, many industry observers are critical of the initial approach, saying that copper could slow broadband connection speeds by up to 50%.
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