Peninsula is lucky to be part of NBN rollout

In the April 16 edition of Peninsula News, I discovered an online submission suggesting the "NBN is a waste of money".

It stated that the $40 billion could be better spent elsewhere, providing medical facilities was used an example.

Understandably, there are inherent misconceptions surfacing about the viability such a national network has within our community.

I would like to debunk misconceptions while providing some reasoning for the need for such a network.

Currently on the Peninsula, we are operating on a network that is older than the baby boomer generation.

Our local business and families are using a network that was established during the World War II era, when Spitfires were flying mission throughout the Pacific and Europe.

Since then we have built new technologies that could never have been imagined during the original network rollout.

Computers, internet TVs, iPads and medical video conferencing are only a few examples of the types of technology we have at our disposal today.

Currently, we rely on a network that provides variable speeds with a top speed of 20mbps.

Many residents within the Peninsula will be hard pressed to actually ever reach the 20mbps.

In terms that we can all relate to, it would take a 100 megabyte file 50 seconds to download, if we are among the very lucky few who have this speed.

Under the initial speeds of the NBN fibre optic network, we are all entitled to a consistent top speed of 100 mbps.

With this, a 100 megabyte file would be downloaded in 10 seconds.

This is only an example of the initial speeds the NBN would provide us.

According to the online tech news forum, techspot.com, fibre optic cables have the ability to reach data transfer speeds of up to 26 Terabytes.

Compared to our current copper speeds, that is well and truly over 100 times faster.

Again further elaborating on our current internet speeds, Australia is ranked according to netindex.com as having the 39th most capable network globally.

This is despite Australia being the second most developed nation according to the human development index.

This is a poor standing and requires government intervention to lift our global competitiveness.

We can't stay competitive globally if we can't stay connected and up to date with our technology.

The cost proposal of $40 billion is used most commonly as an argument against the NBN rollout (most analysts place it closer to $36 billion).

We must remember that the program expected to go on for eight to 10 years.

This then means the very liberal estimate of $40 billion, is a mere $4 billion a year.

To put this into perspective, $4 billion is roughly one per cent of our $350 billion of our federal government's budget.

The budget is expected to grow to $425 billion by the financial year of 2014-15 (budget.gov.au).

This would then reduce annual NBN expenditure to less than one per cent of the budget.

At the end of the day, the NBN is expected to recuperate its costs and then continue to earn money to then be spent on the people of Australia.

Arguments that this piece nation building infrastructure is too expensive are just nonsense.

Here are some facts to consider when deliberating over the NBN's purpose.

Internet traffic within Australia has increased 19,000 per cent over the past 10 years.

The average household is expected to increase their internet traffic again by sixfold from 2010 to 2015.

Currently, fibre optic technology is regarded as relatively future proof.

Many would ask themselves what purpose this piece of infrastructure would enable us to do in our area, the Peninsula.

The NBN has the potential to create jobs within our area.

Imagine if an employee can stay at home some days of the week rather than commute to work because he has fast internet access at home.

Imagine if a specialist in the city was able to effectively video chat with an elderly person in a nursing home for their check up.

Many of the technologies that would most benefit from the NBN may not have been invented yet.

In the end, this is an investment by the government into our nation.

We are lucky on the Peninsula to be receiving it within three years.

It could have been worse, 10 years?

Deborah O'Neil has done a fantastic job to have our area connected within three years.

In an area that is deprived of jobs and commercial areas, this new technology could provide more jobs for a community and greater efficiency.

This is the cheapest, most effective, future-proof method of reliable internet.

We know that it has the potential to create jobs, we know that it will revolutionise the way we do business, and we know it will pay for itself in the long run.

Online submission, 10 May 2012

Lloyd Jones, Woy Woy