A broadband awareness initiative
About the program
Tasmania’s Broadband Project Manager David Anderson and Project Officer Mark Carrington have been working closely with local government to progress broadband priorities at community and regional level, recognising the need for all levels of government to work collaboratively on this issue. The majority of the 29 local Tasmanian Councils are examining ways to extend high and very-high capacity broadband services across regional Tasmania through existing infrastructure services or future network rollouts. The key message to Councils is they need to start thinking about and planning for the introduction of a National Broadband Network now. Where developments involving optic fibre conduit are to be laid in existing open trenches for example, the lead times on planning for such developments can be significant.
Infrastructure
Non Industry Partnership for Development (Business & Community)
The explosive growth of electronic commerce, combined with rapid changes in the information, computing and communication sectors, means that before long the digital economy will impact on almost every aspect of Tasmanian life. Preparation and forward planning are therefore critical. The digital economy has the ability to drive efficiency, productivity, and innovation across all sectors, so the way we act now will directly influence the future economic aspirations of the state. A primary objective of the TBDP is to stimulate all the opportunities that can be realised using the existing fibre optic backbone network – particularly where the business case for improved internet services may be insufficient to attract commercial suppliers.
In regional areas, the TDBP has been working closely with local government as the primary service provider and infrastructure manager.
Local government is well-placed to encourage the growth of broadband through the provision of affordable broadband services. It is also in a good position to install open access, wholesale broadband infrastructure as part of new and existing water, sewer, natural gas and underground power developments using technologies including satellite, fibre optic, wireless loop to name a few. The key to success however is establishing guidelines for the coordination of broadband infrastructure so that local government can develop relevant planning regulations and operational guidelines for infrastructure providers; this will open up tremendous opportunities for the state’s local government sector through extending its own on-line service delivery. It will also reduce the cost of service delivery and lead to efficiency and productivity gains in other areas too.
Awareness & Understanding
Benefits of Broadband education program
Information Technology is changing the way organisations around the world are doing business. Wireless, IP telephony and other network solutions are being utilised to improve safety, enhance services, and generate educational excellence. However, many organisations are using technology in isolation – they are connected internally, but lack the community connectivity that can foster innovation and collaboration across a variety of different organisations and industries, as well as drive a competitive economy.
Premier David Bartlett’s vision of being ‘clever, kind and connected’ allows us to come together as ’one’ community to discuss creating an integrated, regional IT plan that promotes interconnectivity and regional development. Tasmania will benefit tremendously by leading the National Broadband Network rollout in Australia. We already have some fiber optic network in place here to facilitate this type of community connectivity. We also have innovative organisations that would benefit from a shared, community network.
We will build on this with an ongoing Benefits of Broadband education program
