We’re on a road to nowhere …

Australia is stuck in the slow lane of the information superhighway. Unless we change gears soon, we will end up becoming road kill. The way we interact with the world is changing as we move from push models to pull models (PDF 276KB).

The people who are increasingly using pull technologies are what I refer to as “by-passers”. By-passers cannot be categorised by normal demographic definitions, but more from their technological abilities. By-passers are growing in numbers every day. How governments and business deal with them and understand the pull methodologies they employ, will very much determine their continued existence.

Many in the ICT industry argued that Telstra should have been split in two. Sell the retail business, but keep the wholesale business. The wholesale side provided the infrastructure to deliver communication technologies to the home. It has now become obvious that the government should have listened to the techies*.

Currently, out of 26 OECD countries, Australia ranks second last for average broadband download speed. New Zealand at more than double the average comes in at number 13. In fact, what the telco’s pass off for broadband is what Fairfax Media Chief David Kirk calls Fraudband.

Broadband is a minimum of ten megabits per second (MPS). Currently, ADSL2 has a theoretical speed of 24mps, but most don’t even come close to achieving this speed and is dependant on your distance from the local exchange. Many are unable to get ADSL2. ADSL will give you half a MPS, twenty times less than the ten mps required.

The problem with Internet access in this country is that it is still delivered via twisted copper wires. Only a slow analogue signal can be sent, not the digital signal that a computer requires. A computer runs at a basic level on a binary mode. Zeroes and ones, on and off. Think of the old telegraph system of long and short beeps, dots and dashes. By combining dots and dashes you can form a code. They way a binary message is passed down a phone line is the top of the wave is on and the bottom of the wave is off. A modulator-demodulator (modem) converts this wave signal into a digital signal.

To achieve true broadband we need a fibre optic network. Fibre optics work by sending light down the fibre. Light is either on or off. The first phase in providing a true super information highway it to roll out what is called Fibre to the Node (FttN). FttN is the backbone. But we also need Fibre to the Home (FttH). Telstra says it wants to build this network but wants to be able to charge what it likes to others to use this network.

The ACCC has basically said “over their dead body” to this proposal. Telstra has begun a campaign to ensure they can maintain their monopoly, setting up a website called Now We Are Talking. It is likely the Federal Government will cave to Telstra. This will not be in consumer’s interests.

This is why Telstra should have been split. The Government could have continued with developing a first class communication infrastructure, delivering at affordable prices, which would have provided healthy dividends well into the future.

Now I am going to hate myself in the morning for saying this, but Kevin Rudd’s plan for a broadband network is spot on. The Government cries that he is raiding the Future Fund, and spending the pensions for those for whom it was set up, is both disingenuous and unworthy. For Rudd’s plan will deliver what the techies have recommended. An infrastructure company that will grow in value, deliver true competition at the retail level and provide an endless stream of dividends.

He is also correct in that Australia needs to prepare for the end of the mining boom. The current Federal Government only seems to comprehend a business of digging it up, putting it on a ship and sending it overseas.

Could others provide this network? I don’t believe so. You only have to look at what various councils did to stymie the Optus cable rollout. Unless they can get legislation to rollout a network unhindered, they are unlikely to do so. These organisations could do this via using existing conduits, but gaining access will be difficult.

A first class broadband network will be vital to Australia’s economic future. But we need a network that can be delivered to everyone at an affordable price. Currently you will pay about $70 a month for ADSL2 (if you can get it) with a reasonable download limit. This is a lot of money for many. We are already seeing signs of a digital divide emerging within this country.

No better example of how the world is changing is in media. Up until a few years ago, media was delivered to us in a push model. The editor decided what news items would run and the format and angle at which they would be pitched. The radio stations determined what we heard and the television stations determined what we watched and when.

Increasingly “by-passers” have adopted a pull model. Instead of having news and opinion pushed to them, they sort out the news and opinion they want. They have taken this a step further by becoming content providers themselves. Instead of waiting for a trade journal to publish an article by someone in the industry that I follow, I now go to their blog to read what they have to say.

Media operators must surely be looking at their stable of expensive opinion writers (many of whom now call themselves bloggers) and realising that there is nothing special about them. There are better, more informed writers out there talking directly to the audience once the domain of the media owners.

By-passers are watching less and less broadcast shows, preferring to access their favourite shows from the Internet or through purchasing boxed DVD sets. This is having enormous implications for advertisers and revenue streams for TV stations. They can watch what they want when they want.

By-passers are also gaining direct access to musicians. They will go to their site to listen to their music. Many musicians are now finding audiences that were once the control of the record companies and radio stations.

By-passers are sidelining the traditional gatekeepers as they pull the content they want when they want it. With powerful and cheap software, many have become content providers. This has been evident with MySpace and YouTube. Instead of watching a news item of an event, you can see it from someone who was there.

Pull methodologies have enormous implications for a variety of areas. In education, a curriculum was developed and delivered to students. Students can now go and research and learn about the topic that interests them.

Do pull technologies mean the end for traditional gatekeepers such as media companies? Certainly not: in fact it offers enormous opportunities for them. They need to understand how by-passers work and provide the infrastructure for them to pull the content. Some are already heading down the right direction. JJJ provide podcasts of their various radio programs. I can listen to a segment from JJJ at my convenience.

There is however a solution to our network needs which can bypass the Telcos altogether. It is called Broadband Over Powerlines (BPL). Broadband speeds of up to 200mps can be delivered over existing powerlines. Currently BPL is being rolled out in Tasmania and Queanbeyan. Every power socket in the home is a portal for the Internet, phone calls and media delivery.

As the powerlines are already in place, BPL can provide cost-effective ultra fast broadband access at a cheap price to just about everybody. What is the problem with this solution? They still have to connect into the backbone of the Internet, which as you guessed is owned and controlled by Telstra. If this government were serious in delivering a first class network, they would legislate to allow the power utilities to build their own backbone. Then we would have some true competition.

Why is having a true broadband network so important? You only have to look at China and India. They are currently pumping out four million graduates a year. They make our clothes and goods, answer our queries, do our tax returns, type up our medical records, handle our banking, build our computer systems and much, much more. All this achieved on the back of a first class broadband network.

Having a true broadband network will be vital to this country’s future. If we are to truly compete globally, we need the right infrastructure. So who is talking now?

*We like to portray Labor as not being in touch with the community as they are full of unionists and party hacks. But of the 17 cabinet positions in the Howard government, 12 are lawyers and one a party hack. Information and communication technologies are not exactly a strong point amongst this group.