Sand & Mercury
July 20th, 2009, 12:31 PM
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/20/2630917.htm
A Senate committee has heard that most Australian households will not want broadband speeds as fast as the Government wants to deliver.
In April the Government announced a $43 billion plan to build a broadband network at 100 megabits per second to 90 per cent of homes, which was dramatically faster and more expensive than its previous plan.
Today a Senate committee has heard from two experts who say many householders do not want such speeds and are unlikely to be prepared to pay for them.
Communications expert Dr Rowan Gilmore has told the committee it is a risky investment to try to deliver such speeds to houses.
"The demand for 100-megabit services to most homes is not necessary and would be throttled down in most instances anyway," he said.
"Certainly there would be business and premises that would benefit from 100-megabits per second connectivity.
"Without having seen market data, my experience would indicate that that is not necessary in the great bulk of circumstances."
Dr Gilmore says about 10 megabits per second would be enough to deliver high definition television pictures, and only some users such as universities or small businesses would want and be able to afford the super high speeds.
Dr John Ness agrees most houses will not need the speed, adding, "your brain can only take in so much data".
But another group, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, has told the committee that delivering the super high-speed service to most houses would boost productivity.
Investment bank Deutsche Bank told the Senate inquiry the Government's plan to develop the network is likely to cost about $28 billion.
But Deutsche Bank also estimates the cost of providing high speed internet could blow out to $42 billion.
The $42 billion figure fits with the outer limit set by the Government when it announced the project earlier this year.
Deutsche Bank analyst Sameer Chopra told the inquiry the $42 billion figure would only be reached if a series of assumptions are incorrect.
"The first [assumption] is the cost of debt, so if the cost of debt goes from 5 to 7 per cent [then the figure would be $42 billion]," he said.
"The second one is take-up rate, the third one is a capital construction cost and the last one is the access price.
"If all four of those are adversely impacted then you go from $28 billion up to $42 billion."
Way to keep the aussies in the dark ages. :lol: *Sigh* Maybe one day we'll have decent speeds that we don't pay through the teeth for with a 10GB cap...
A Senate committee has heard that most Australian households will not want broadband speeds as fast as the Government wants to deliver.
In April the Government announced a $43 billion plan to build a broadband network at 100 megabits per second to 90 per cent of homes, which was dramatically faster and more expensive than its previous plan.
Today a Senate committee has heard from two experts who say many householders do not want such speeds and are unlikely to be prepared to pay for them.
Communications expert Dr Rowan Gilmore has told the committee it is a risky investment to try to deliver such speeds to houses.
"The demand for 100-megabit services to most homes is not necessary and would be throttled down in most instances anyway," he said.
"Certainly there would be business and premises that would benefit from 100-megabits per second connectivity.
"Without having seen market data, my experience would indicate that that is not necessary in the great bulk of circumstances."
Dr Gilmore says about 10 megabits per second would be enough to deliver high definition television pictures, and only some users such as universities or small businesses would want and be able to afford the super high speeds.
Dr John Ness agrees most houses will not need the speed, adding, "your brain can only take in so much data".
But another group, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, has told the committee that delivering the super high-speed service to most houses would boost productivity.
Investment bank Deutsche Bank told the Senate inquiry the Government's plan to develop the network is likely to cost about $28 billion.
But Deutsche Bank also estimates the cost of providing high speed internet could blow out to $42 billion.
The $42 billion figure fits with the outer limit set by the Government when it announced the project earlier this year.
Deutsche Bank analyst Sameer Chopra told the inquiry the $42 billion figure would only be reached if a series of assumptions are incorrect.
"The first [assumption] is the cost of debt, so if the cost of debt goes from 5 to 7 per cent [then the figure would be $42 billion]," he said.
"The second one is take-up rate, the third one is a capital construction cost and the last one is the access price.
"If all four of those are adversely impacted then you go from $28 billion up to $42 billion."
Way to keep the aussies in the dark ages. :lol: *Sigh* Maybe one day we'll have decent speeds that we don't pay through the teeth for with a 10GB cap...