Angus Kidman20 March 2008, 11:07 AM
Want to give the government some advice to ensure that its next-generation broadband network isn't the disaster that our current one has been? Here's your chance.
Want to give the government some advice to ensure that its next-generation broadband network isn't the disaster that our current one has been? Here's your chance.
Minister for Broadband Senator Stephen Conroy has invited members of the public to contribute their thoughts to the panel of six experts who are running the National Broadband Network Request for Proposals (informally known as the "How in Rudd's name do we meet our election promise to build this thing?" group).
"I am sure there are a number of individuals and organisations that are interested in the Australian broadband market and that will be able to provide informed submissions to aid in the panel's consideration of the issues," Conroy said in a statement.
Note the words "informed submissions": rants along the lines of "I hate Telstra and my BitTorrent downloads are always slow at the end of the month" probably aren't going to help the cause much.
If you're particularly articulate, you could even find your own turn of phrase in the tender documents, as writing in implies giving the government permission for "use of the submission as it may see fit in the development of the Request for Proposals documentation".
Disturbingly for what's supposed to be a Net-aware government, there's no online submission form; instead, contributions need to be sent by Australia Post (risky) or emailed to nationalbroadbandnetwork@dbcde.gov.au.
The mere fact the email address is in the public domain means that we can confidently predict that 80% of the submissions received will offer suggestions on how the government can make money quick and keep its partner going all night, but hey, maybe that's not a bad thing.
The aim is for the national broadband network to provide speeds of at least 12 megabits per second to 98 percent of the population, although APC's inner cynic would suggest that defining the speed prior to designing the network might involve carts and horses going in the wrong locations.
Still, practically anything short of two tin cans and a piece of string would have to be an improvement on the current arrangements which let Telstra bloody-mindedly dictate available options for most