KEY POINTS:
It's election year in Australia, and the opposition Labor party looks to have hijacked the debate around how best to improve broadband access.
If elected, the Kevin Rudd-led Labor party says, it will contribute A$4.7 billion (NZ$5.3 billion) to building a national fibre optic network reaching 98 per
cent of Australians. It's aimed at improving broadband penetration in Australia and securing faster connection speeds for internet users.
"What economic vandalism it is to let this country slide into the broadband backwater it's become," said Labor's shadow communications minister Stephen Conroy.
Labor would change regulations to allow for one open access network and use the proceeds of the sale of its 17 per cent stake in Telstra, which is held in the government's Future Fund, to partially fund the network. The government's A$2 billion (NZ$2.3 billion) communications fund would also be drawn on.
The plan has shades of a similar, less detailed one floated here by Wellington internet entrepreneur Rod Drury, who has called for the Government to invest in a national fibre network because of what he sees as market failure in the Telecom-dominated broadband market.
New Zealand and Australia share some traits when it comes to broadband. Both countries are dealing with the legacy of a major incumbent telco - Telecom here, Telstra there - both of which spent too little for too long on developing their networks.
Consumers in both countries largely rely on copper lines to access the internet from their homes, and there's common dissatisfaction with these services, including with the price, speed and quality of service.
Publicly owned open access broadband networks aren't seen in the same light as roads and hospitals, but that is changing as the importance of being tapped into the knowledge economy becomes more apparent.
It seems then that plans for a fibre to the node (FTTN) network for Australia could make a lot of sense for New Zealand, too.
Technically, it involves laying fibre cables out to central points close to neighbourhoods, but not to houses themselves. Labor is aiming for a network that would deliver speeds of up to 12Mbps (megabits per second) to every house connected to it. It's no secret that fibre delivers better broadband than copper.
But critics of a national fibre network plan say it's a myth that the existing copper line network cannot deliver the speeds we need in order to get good-quality broadband and high-speed services like internet TV.
In a report last year, Australian internet provider iiNet, suggested most of its customers reliably receive a connection speed of 6Mbps, with some connecting at up to 18Mbps.
The myth being perpetrated is that unless there is a massive and urgent rollout of fibre infrastructure across Australia, Australians will be doomed to a future of limited broadband speeds or fraudband, the iiNet report read.
In other words, we don't need expensive fibre; let's build on what we've got, using the second generation of DSL technology, ADSL2+, to increase line speeds for everyone. Local internet provider ihug was previously owned by iiNet and is banking on local loop unbundling to make its business case stack up. An alternative fibre network would undermine ihug.
So what do we do here? Wait for ADSL2+, which is nine months overdue and may not deliver the speeds iiNet custo-mers enjoy?
Or look at an alternative that any player can use on the same terms?
That latter, more expensive plan may sound more attractive next year, in election year.
Apple turns on tv
Apple has started selling its Apple TV digital hub for the lounge, a device that can store up to 50 hours of video, 9000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of all three. The US$299 (NZ$420) box has a remote control that lets users watch movies and TV shows bought through the iTunes website. But it will not let users record TV shows, as the popular TiVo recorder in the US and the MySky recorder here do.
www.apple.com
Google on the phone?
It's the juiciest rumour to emerge since Apple was discovered to be working on the iPhone. Talk of a phone tailor-made to the services delivered by web giant Google have been rejected by the company, which claims it has no desire to become a hardware maker. But photos of the supposed prototype Google phone shown below were circulating on the web last week. What's more likely is a Google partnership with an existing mobile phone maker. Google has already sealed deals with phone makers like Samsung to have its search engine preloaded on mobiles.
www.engadget.com