The NBN was conceived to elevate Australia to the top of the global internet speed rankings. Too many political, technical and commercial debacles later and we find ourselves slipping down the rankings, not climbing them. Australia now ranks 62nd in the world.
Australian internet speed ranking
62nd in the world in global broadband rankings leaves us behind such mega economies as Kazakhstan and Cape Verde. More troubling is how far behind we now are compared to similarly advanced economies. The Australian average download speed is 35.11 Mbps. With the global average of 57.91 Mbps, we are significantly digitally disadvantaged.
The size of Australia is often mooted as a factor in the poor performance endured by Australians, but similarly sized nations do far better.
Has the NBN delivered faster speeds?
Despite the NBN reporting that 4.6 million premises are now connected to their network, the average speeds have not increased. This is a damning statistic that suggests the NBN rollout is no better than the incumbent technology.
There are many commentators who point to the change to a mixed technology rollout as the key issue. Whilst this is a factor, this doesn’t address the underlying commercial issues that prevent Internet Service Providers (ISP’S) from offering a low contention product at a competitive price. After spending in excess of $50 billion on the network, it begs the question what can be done to drive Australia back up the global speed index?
The view shared by many is that the only solution is to de-regulate the industry completely. This would allow market forces and private enterprise to drive the digital transformation. As long as the NBN network remains in the hands of the Government, (regardless of political persuasion) the future looks unchanged.
Stepping outside the NBN offers an alternative
Small companies that embrace new technology, such as Our Community Broadband, are actively designing and rolling out mixed technology networks. These networks incorporate fibre injection points. They are then complimented with wireless applications to deliver in excess of 100 Mbps to the end user. You can find out if OCB’s service is available at your Sunshine Coast address HERE.
As Steve Jobs said, our role is to identify what the consumer wants and needs, then deliver it. Not look at the technology that is available to us and work out a way to sell it.
