Australia's insatiable hunger for internet

This week the Bureau released its latest numbers on internet usage in Australia.

It showed, yet again, great increases in the volume of data being downloaded by fixed line broadband.

Volume of data downloaded by access connection (for ISPs with more than 1,000 subscribers)

This trend seriously calls into question the Australian Government’s approach to communications policy, particularly the build of a broadband network that relies on old technologies (copper wiring) and limited technologies (wireless). The increasing appetite for internet in Australia shows no sign of slowing. In fact, it is likely to grow at an exponential rate, as innovation and capability drive each other further higher.

Our Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, does not understand these trends, having said:

I mean, of all the people who are making daily use of telecommunications services, increasingly they’re using wireless technology. All those people who are sending messages from their iPhones and BlackBerries, all those people sitting in airport lounges using their computers, I mean they do not rely on fixed line services

The numbers, clearly, show that this is not the case.

The Prime Minister is confused about how people are accessing the internet, and also the uses for which it is accessed. In a press conference, he asked, “do we really want to invest $50 billion of hard-earned taxpayers’ money in what is essentially a video entertainment system?”

As the national broadband network is rolled out, it will certainly deliver higher speeds than most Australians currently have access to. And, although those speeds are nowhere near what the previous government’s fibre-to-the-premises network would have provided, the increased capabilities will drive important innovations in health, education, retail, social networking and entertainment. The way we do business and connect with the world will be transformed. These will be important innovations, and will benefit Australia.

The ultimate problem with the government’s broadband network is that it will not benefit all Australians. Many will be left behind. Those having to access wireless internet, particularly those on the outer margins of the wireless networks’ boundaries, and those in rural and regional areas, where their home or business is miles from the nearest exchange, will struggle to get decent speeds.

As technologies that we can’t yet even imagine become embedded in society, those with limited access will be disadvantaged. Who would have thought 20 years ago that by now we would all be lodging our tax returns online; that we could access our health records and seek medical advice online; that our first point of call in researching anything would be a giant wordwide search engine or online encyclopaedia; that we would be buying books more cheaply from the UK than the bricks-and-mortar store down the road; that we would be keeping in touch with loved ones around the world by video-chat; that so much of our personal data would be stored in a “cloud”? You get the picture: these previously unimaginable uses for the internet are now just a normal part of our lives. As broadband unrolls, we will find more and more uses for the internet, and they will transform our society, mostly for the better. Unfortunately, those with less access will be worse off.

Perhaps this point is not entirely lost on the Prime Minister. He has stated the need for government to step in where the market fails to deliver equity, saying:

The smart way to improve broadband is … to let a competitive market deliver the speeds that people need at an affordable price, with government improving infrastructure in the areas where market competition won’t deliver it.

Time will tell just how committed the Australian Government is to addressing equity issues. A failure would essentially create an underclass of Australians who are unable to participate in a technologically transformed society.