Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) will be the largest investment in infrastructure in the country’s history. It will be a fiber to the home (FTTH), nation wide fiber optic network capable of speeds upwards of 100MB/s. The aim is to be able to reach 90% of Australian homes and businesses and reach the remaining via satellite and wireless systems. Considering how appalling internet services are for rural Australia at present, the NBN will be welcomed with open arms by many.
With work on the NBN beginning in July 2009, the first active services should be up and running by July 2010. The project is expected to generate 40,000 jobs within it’s planned 8 years and will generate a boom for Australian workforce especially in the area’s of IT, Telecommunications, Construction and many other industries. With IT job’s in places such as the US becoming rare, the opportunities for skilled technicians from all over the world will be enormous.
The Beginning
The National Broadband Network (NBN) first came about as an election promise by the (at the time) opposition leader Kevin Rudd. Initially the project was to run parallel to the Governments ‘Broadband Connect’ project however this was axed later in 2008.
After winning the 2007 federal election, Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labour Party issued a request for proposals. Numerous parties submitted proposals including the following groups;
- Acacia
- Axia Network
- Terria/Optus
- Tasmanian Government
- TransACT
In mid December 2008 the Government rejected Telstra’s bid from the process as it did not comply with the request for proposal. On the 7th of April 2009 it was decided by the government that none of the bidders would be successful and that instead the government would do it themselves with the injection of $43 billion into the project. This was decided based on a report advising that none of the prospective bids offered value for money. With this move came the birth of the governments NBNco.
The Tasmanian government managed to be included in the governments revised plans. Because the RFP was cancelled, companies like Telstra will still be able to buy infrastructure bonds in the new company. 21st of October 2009 saw the Federal Government and the Tasmanian State Government announce the second stage of the NBN roll-out.
With many decisions still to be made on how the NBN will operate it is still uncertain as to how the project will unfold. Keep an eye on this blog for all the latest information regarding Australia’s NBN.