Synopsis
In 2012 there are a number of countries in the world whose governments are actively investigating the social and economic benefits that can be achieved through the deployment of a mainly fibre-based telecoms infrastructure. Australia was the first country to get the (national purpose) vision right, thanks to government leadership. The USA soon followed and the EU (Digital Agenda for Europe), New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Sweden are showing real leadership as well. Economic and trans-sector innovations are now key items on the political agenda of these countries.
Services that depend on high quality broadband infrastructure include e-health, e-education, e-business, digital media, e-government, smart meters etc. In countries where the national telco is lagging behind, we see that governments have no choice other than to take a leadership role, as they have done with similar infrastructure over the last 100 years.
This report provides insights into the various functions and importance of broadband infrastructure and explores the reasons why a trans-sectoral approach to National Broadband Networks (NBN) is required. The report also includes an outline of the developments occurring in Australia, which is currently the leader in this area.
