National Broadband Network Research Articles

An Opportunity

The September issue provides an interesting look at the National Broadband Network and how it is perceived to have problems that need to be resolved and how telecommunications is having an effect on the lives of Australians with discussion on how older Australians engage with online news and how mobile phone use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is a balance between opportunity and affordability. Papers on future digital service delivery and metadata retention provide a balance between identifying future use and how authorities are looking our telecommunications usage.

An Opportunity

The September issue provides an interesting look at the National Broadband Network and how it is perceived to have problems that need to be resolved and how telecommunications is having an effect on the lives of Australians with discussion on how older Australians engage with online news and how mobile phone use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is a balance between opportunity and affordability. Papers on future digital service delivery and metadata retention provide a balance between identifying future use and how authorities are looking our telecommunications usage.

Rural realities

Purpose– This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the transition to high-speed broadband infrastructure. Despite the National Broadband Network’s promised ubiquitous connectivity, significant access discrepancies remain between rural and urban areas.Design/methodology/approach– Empirical findings are drawn from a full-day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion.Findings– Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices.Research limitations/implications– While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are, nonetheless, heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion.Practical implications– There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts and implementing participatory digital government practices.Originality/value– The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.

National Broadband Networks of Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia

This paper presents a comparison of national broadband networks (NBNs) of four different countries – Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Australia – by describing their rationale, scope, funding, technology and current status. The networks are analyzed for their cost effectiveness, demand stimulation, conduciveness for competition and technology. The networks are fiber based and are implemented by the incumbent as in Malaysia or a special purpose vehicle which is led by the incumbent as in India. Across the four countries, there are differences in terms of funding, implementation entity, point of access by the network, period of implementation and the objectives. The paper is expected to help policy makers in the developing world in devising plans that ensure open access to the networks and promote fair competition.

Optimizing Network Designs for the World’s Largest Broadband Project

The national broadband network (NBN) is the largest public infrastructure project undertaken in Australia, and NBN Co is the government-owned company responsible for building the network. By using operations research, NBN Co expects to avoid more than $AUD1.7 billion in unnecessary construction and design costs on this $AUD36 billion project. At the beginning of this 10-year project, NBN Co divided the country into more than 3,000 fiber-serving-area modules (FSAMs), each covering approximately 2,500 premises, and will design and construct one FSAM each day. NBN Co contracted with Biarri Networks, an Australian commercial mathematics company, to optimize the design task. To accomplish this, Biarri created a fiber-optic network design (FOND) software product based on a network-flow mixed-integer programming engine. This engine minimizes the cost of materials and labor for each FSAM, subject to a variety of constraints, and provides a solution in less than five minutes. To date, more than 650 FSAM designs have been completed using FOND. This has saved NBN Co an estimated $AUD325 million in avoided construction cost, and the planning time per FSAM has decreased from 145 to 16 days.

The national broadband network: challenges and opportunities for telecommunications infrastructure planning

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Australia's history. NBN Co is currently rolling out the NBN network across Australia which includes a network of interconnected infrastructure such as optical fibre cables, street cabinets, exchange buildings, depots, wireless towers and satellite base stations. Some of this infrastructure is installed in accordance with the utilising NBN Co's powers under schedule 3 of the Telecommunication Act 1997 (Cth) (the Telco Act) in areas of environmental significance as defined in the Telco Act. In these areas NBN Co seeks exemptions or approvals under a range of federal, state and territory legislation. To assist in this process on a national scale NBN Co has developed a mapping tool that combines telecommunications infrastructure design, the location of construction activities and mapped areas of Heritage, Environmental and Cultural (HEC) considerations. This tool forms part of a systematic analysis of potential impacts enabling early identification of potential approval requirements. NBN Co also works with key approval authorities to identify opportunities to streamline approval requirements and identify possible exemptions. Further, the significant improvements and advances in telecommunications infrastructure and access arising from the NBN may be harnessed by the wider planning community in current and future development, plans and strategies as the NBN is expected to change how people live, learn and work.

A snapshot of high-speed broadband responses at local government level in Australia: a marriage between federally funded initiatives and locally driven innovations?

The introduction of the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2009 posed a range of new questions about the potential of the telecommunication infrastructure for planning at different levels of government. This paper focuses on the local implications of the new infrastructure whether socio-economic, e-governance or otherwise. It reaches out to the NBN early rollout local government authorities (LGAs) and collects empirical data about their responses to the new infrastructure, so far. The findings explore the significant role of the federally funded initiatives aiming at the local level, while shedding light on some of the locally driven, mostly innovative approaches taken by the LGAs. The paper concludes by raising concerns about the current state of uncertainty around the future phases of broadband infrastructure rollout across the nation and its negative impact on strategic approaches in planning for and with telecommunication to capitalise on the digitally driven opportunities.

The spatial justice implications of telecommunication infrastructure: the socio-economic status of early national broadband network rollout in Australia

Since the formation of the Australian National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co.) in April 2009, the NBN rollout has been gradually announced following a range of engineering and logistic criteria. However, the early rollout gives the release sites a regional competitive advantage against other localities that might have to wait up to a decade to receive similar infrastructure. This leads to an important question about the socio-economic status of the NBN release sites, and the potential impact of the upcoming broadband infrastructure on the social discrepancy across the nation. The answer to this question then leads to a second question about the degree to which the NBN or any telecommunication infrastructure for that matter should be incorporated in planning and policy development for spatial justice. In an attempt to explore these questions, this paper examines the ranking of the 60 earlier NBN release sites in the socio-economic indexes for area, and accessibility/remoteness index of Australia. Findings are in line with the recent research that emphasises the role of infrastructure in intensifying social divisions.

Australia's National Broadband Network – A cybersecure critical infrastructure?

In 2009 the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) began to be rolled out across Australia. The Australian NBN is the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history since the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme from 1949 to 1972 and it has a projected cost of between AU$37 billion and AU$43 billion. Its purposes are to provide high speed broadband connectivity to 93% of Australia's homes and businesses, to enhance productivity, to improve the delivery of education, tele-medicine and regional connectivity and to form the basis of the Australian telecommunications network for the 21st Century. However, the project does not have bi-partisan support and has been affected by high-level management changes and anticipated cost over-runs.The legal implications of the Australian NBN are as vast as the project itself. Its implementation has involved the enactment of a suite of Commonwealth legislation and will involve considerable competition law and long-term access issues which have already been much critiqued. However, despite information technology being in the top five critical infrastructures internationally, a critical infrastructure analysis of the NBN has had little public attention. Similarly, due to the confidential nature of much of the NBN's operations, the cybersecurity aspects of the project have only been lightly scrutinised. Paradoxically, it is contended that greater scrutiny and public access to vital information will provide enhanced, not less, security for both the network itself and for Australian users and will also provide for a more secure and reliable engagement with Australia's international trading partners. Given the need for a high level of trust in, and the immense reliance upon, the Australian NBN, consumer and business confidence can only be enhanced by greater awareness of the critical infrastructure implications of the Australian NBN for Australia's future.

Spatial Planning and High-Speed Broadband: Australia's National Broadband Network and Metropolitan Planning

The Australian government is constructing a National Broadband Network (NBN), which at an estimated cost of $43 billion will be Australia's largest ever infrastructure project. The NBN, if its full benefits are to be realized, raises a number of important, but largely unexplored, questions for planning. This paper investigates the implications of the NBN for Australian metropolitan planning focusing on the question of how these plans will exploit the NBN to improve urban outcomes. The paper examines the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane metropolitan areas and analyses the strategies shaping the future of these regions during the rollout and implementation of the NBN. This comparative analysis reveals similarities across these three metropolitan areas in their weak stance towards the NBN. Some key findings include: (1) a segregation of infrastructure planning and metropolitan planning; (2) a lack of consistency between different policies within each metropolitan area and (3) policy gaps regarding the role of telecommunications at the metropolitan level. Considering the number of governments worldwide that are making large investments in high-speed broadband, this paper addresses policy issues that will impact upon metropolitan planning well beyond the borders of Australia.

Multi-site videoconferencing for home-based education of older people with chronic conditions: the Telehealth Literacy Project

We examined the acceptability of multi-site videoconferencing as a method of providing group education to older people in their homes. There were 9 groups comprising 52 participants (mean age 73 years) with an average of four chronic conditions. Tablet computers or PCs were installed in participant’s homes and connected to the Internet by the National Broadband Network (high-speed broad band network) or by the 4G wireless network. A health literacy and self-management programme was delivered by videoconference for 5 weeks. Participants were able to view and interact with all group members and the facilitator on their devices. During the study, 44 group videoconferences were conducted. Evaluation included 16 semi-structured interviews, 3 focus groups and a journal detailing project implementation. The participants reported enjoying home-based group education by videoconference and found the technology easy to use. Using home-based groups via videoconference was acceptable for providing group education, and considered particularly valuable for people living alone and/or with limited mobility. Audio difficulties were the most commonly reported problem. Participants connected with 4G experienced more problems (audio and visual) than participants on the National Broadband Network and those living in multi-dwelling residences reported more problems than those living in single-dwelling residences. Older people with little computer experience can be supported to use telehealth equipment. Telehealth has the potential to improve access to education about chronic disease self-management.

The local library across the digital and physical city: Opportunities for economic development

This paper considers the role of the public library as a community hub, engagement space, and entrepreneurial incubator in the context of the city, city governance, and local government planning. It considers this role from the perspective of library experts and their future visions for libraries in a networked knowledge economy. Public libraries (often operated by or on behalf of local governments) potentially play a pivotal role for local governments in positioning communities within the global digital network. Fourteen qualitative interviews with library experts informed the study which investigates how the relationship between digital technology and the physical library space can potentially support the community to develop innovative, collaborative environments for transitioning to a digital future. The study found that libraries can capitalise on their position as community hubs for two purposes: first, to build vibrant community networks and forge economic links across urban localities; and second, to cross the digital divide and act as places of innovation and lifelong learning. Libraries provide a specific combination of community and technology spaces and have significant tangible connection points in the digital age. The paper further discusses the potential benefits for libraries in using ICT networks and infrastructure, such as the National Broadband Network in Australia. These networks could facilitate greater use of library assets and community knowledge, which, in turn, could assist knowledge economies and regional prosperity.

Asynchronous Speeds: Disentangling the Discourse of ‘High-Speed Broadband’ in Relation to Australia's National Broadband Network

This article analyses the substantive problems related to the term ‘high-speed broadband’ in relation to the implementation of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN). It argues that an understanding of speed in relation to broadband must take into account a complex assemblage of infrastructure networks, communication devices, software, location, user subjectivity and political input. Within this assemblage are varied definitions, discourses and materialities of speed that do not necessarily synchronise. Instead, speed is subject to asynchronous perceptions and implementations, which impact on the potential of the NBN. With the aim of contextualising and problematising the understanding of speed in relation to the NBN, this article explores four key points: first, how the perception of speed is dependent not so much on technical performance, but on the subjectivities of internet experience; second, how the term ‘broadband’ is politically shaped, especially in the context of the Coalition government's alternative multi-technology mix plan; third, how the assemblage of different social, technical and political actants that constitute high-speed broadband determines the perception of speed; and finally, how asynchronous speeds of broadband implementation and adoption may impact on the potential benefits of the NBN.

The new NBN policy's Achilles' heel

While most critiques of the Coalition Government?s National Broadband Network (NBN) policy have focussed on the wisdom of its Fibre to the Node technology choice, a more fundamental weakness in its NBN election policy promises to make it a financial debacle if not corrected. This paper spells out the many negative consequences of the Government's policy to remove the NBN Co's current monopoly in providing fixed broadband access infrastructure: to the federal budget, to the competition framework in telecommunications, to a forced premature sale of NBN Co, and to the affordable rollout of high-speed broadband access across the nation. The Minister of Communications is urged to correct this policy element rapidly, in the national interest.

TransACT’s foundation and initial rollout: A memoir

TransACT (2000- ) introduced Australia's first VDSL network, offering a 'triple play' of voice, data (e.g. Internet access), broadcast and video-on-demand services in Australia's capital city, Canberra, in competition with the incumbent carrier Telstra. TransACT's founding Chief Architect, Robin Eckermann, reminisces on the founding of TransACT and some of the lessons to be learned from this fore-runner of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

The FTTdp technology option for the Australian National Broadband Network

Fibre to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) is a broadband access network technology that encompasses fibre to the street lead-in pit at the front fence, with an average copper lead-in length of 30m. FTTdp promises very high VDSL2 capability, with easy upgrading to G.fast or individual FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) on an on-demand basis. The network capability of FTTdp is thus very close to the capability of a full FTTP deployment. Cost savings compared to FTTP promise to be substantial ? a possible $12 billion in savings for the Australian National Broadband Network ? due to the use of existing copper pair lead-ins, thus avoiding civil engineering works for each individual fibre lead-in. Indeed, there is reason to expect that the initial cost of FTTdp deployment will be comparable to that of FTTN (Fibre to the Node). FTTdp has additional benefits of reduced copper maintenance and limited ongoing upgrade costs compared to FTTN. Significantly deeper fibre network penetration is potentially cost-neutral (or better) with FTTdp when compared to the FTTN baseline due to elimination of time-consuming activities involved with FTTN deployment. The reduced street impact of FTTdp is also important

National Broadband Networks: What Works and What Doesnnt? Case Studies Based on India, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia

National Broadband Networks: What Works and What Doesnnt? Case Studies Based on India, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia

Retired Australians' use of Information Technology: A Preliminary Study

In July 2010, Coffs Harbour, Australia was announced as one of fourteen National Broadband Network (NBN) second release sites and in February 2013, a number of households and businesses in Coffs Harbour had infrastructure installed to enable them to access the NBN (www.minister.dbcde.gov.au). High speed internet and the new generation of internet-based services has the potential to provide better health outcomes, increased social connectedness, enhanced functional capability and caregiver support for those most likely to need these services. A survey of technology use of residents of a retirement home on the Mid North Coast of NSW, Australia, showed a low uptake of technology and low engagement with online activities. An understanding of perceptions of technology usefulness, together with actual usage is necessary to assist in informing public policy and ensure that information, resources and programs aimed at increasing levels of internet uptake and use by older Australians is targeted, appropriate and effective.

A coordinated satellite and terrestrial microwave backhaul for cellular mobile in remote and regional Australia

For several years prior to the Australian Federal elections in September 2013, Commonwealth Government telecommunications policy and legislation focussed exclusively on the fixed services National Broadband Network. This distracted broader public attention from the need for cellular mobile expansion in the more sparsely populated areas of the country. Commercial returns in these areas are clearly inadequate for unilateral private operator investment, making government participation crucial. Thus a commitment from the newly elected Coalition Government for a Mobile Black Spot co-investment programme marks a significant change of prospects for remote and regional Australia. 
 This paper proposes that the joint program should commence with a comprehensive financial and technical study of backhaul and base station technology options, to identify the most cost effective approaches. These options include the coordinated provisioning of modern satellite and terrestrial backhaul systems, utilising and upgrading existing HCRC microwave system infrastructure, and the implementation of small cell base station types. 
 It is especially timely for these opportunities to be considered now, during the present pre-launch design and construction phase for the NBN Ka band satellites.

A coordinated satellite and terrestrial microwave backhaul for cellular mobile in remote and regional Australia

For several years prior to the Australian Federal elections in September 2013, Commonwealth Government telecommunications policy and legislation focussed exclusively on the fixed services National Broadband Network. This distracted broader public attention from the need for cellular mobile expansion in the more sparsely populated areas of the country. Commercial returns in these areas are clearly inadequate for unilateral private operator investment, making government participation crucial. Thus a commitment from the newly elected Coalition Government for a Mobile Black Spot co-investment programme marks a significant change of prospects for remote and regional Australia. 
 This paper proposes that the joint program should commence with a comprehensive financial and technical study of backhaul and base station technology options, to identify the most cost effective approaches. These options include the coordinated provisioning of modern satellite and terrestrial backhaul systems, utilising and upgrading existing HCRC microwave system infrastructure, and the implementation of small cell base station types. 
 It is especially timely for these opportunities to be considered now, during the present pre-launch design and construction phase for the NBN Ka band satellites.