Uncle Rupert speaks
Excellent news, Uncle Rupert - someone to whom this government seems to listen to - has spoken up about the shambles that is broadband internet access in this country.
RUPERT Murdoch yesterday condemned the quality of Australia’s broadband services as a disgrace, warning the nation would be left behind unless the federal Government and Telstra spent billions to increase download speeds.
The News Corporation chairman and chief executive told shareholders of his Australian arm in Adelaide that high speed access to the internet needed to be increased to levels seen throughout Asia and the US.
“When you have broadband - real broadband, not the type they’re talking about here - where you get, say, 20Mbps of data into your home, it changes everything,” he said.
“People then spend a lot of time with their laptops and computers. In Australia we only have a couple of million (people on broadband) and they don’t even get 1Mb(ps).”
“I think it’s a disgrace.”
Between 50 and 70 per cent of homes in the US had access to broadband, Mr Murdoch said.
He said the Government and Telstra should be spending “$10 billion or $12 billion on it (to reach) every town in Australia; they do it in Japan, they do it in South Korea, we should be able to do it here. We are being left behind and we will pay for it.”
The Minister for Megabytes, Helen Coonan is quoted by the ABC as saying:
“About 80 per cent of households who can access fast broadband can access speeds up to eight megabytes from 19 different providers.
Fourteen providers are currently providing speeds up to 24 megabytes to about four million premises and Telstra of course is now rolling out its 3G network, which it claims could offer speeds of up to 40 megabytes.”
Even if the ABC was being naughty and misquoting her and she really didn’t mean speeds of 64Mbits, 192Mbits and 320Mbits, she is still way off the mark.
Has she ever heard of RIMs, pair gained lines or exchanges with no ports left in them?
Personally, I am one of the lucky ones - I do have access to a 24Mbit connection - which in reality, runs at about 4-8mbit due to a dodgy “last mile” of copper but is much better than many people have access to.
Good work Uncle Rupert - perhaps this government will sit up and take notice now… heh.
