The report by the UN’s Broadband Commission for Digital Development recommends "a market-led approach facilitated by an enabling policy environment" as the best way to promote the deployment of and use of broadband networks.
And it has called for a "technology neutral" mix of fibre, wireless and other technologies to get there.
Coalition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has seized on the report as proof that there is no need to be "dogmatic" about the need for a fibre network.
The report found that "it is unlikely that any single technology will be able to provide all the answers".
And while it described optical fibre as "desirable at the core of the Internet and for the majority of backhaul traffic", it found that "at the edges of the network and in particular in the hands of end-users, it is most likely that mobile devices will deliver many applications and services".
"There is a role for a host of different technological solutions in providing broadband access - from cable to fixed wireless; from satellite to microwave; from xDSL to mobile technologies; and many more. Policy-makers should seek to adopt a technology-neutral approach as regulation needs to accommodate new upgrades of current technologies, as well as future technologies which do not yet exist," the report states.
"Future-proofing technology - as well as the regulation to cope with the technology - may be impossible to achieve fully."
The vice chairman of the UN Commission, Hamadoun Toure, has described the Federal Government’s NBN as "one of the world’s most ambitious broadband build out programs," adding that many countries were watching to see how Australia would tackle the rollout to remote communities, according to a report in the Fairfax press.
Dr Toure said the NBN could be a vital driver of economic growth, but warned encouraging a competitive market was also vital.
Mr Turnbull said the Coalition did not question the importance of broadband.
"The issue here is simply this: is the construction of a $43 billion NBN, without any business plan or cost benefit analysis, a responsible investment by Government?," he said in a statement.
"If, as seems highly probable, the value of the network is going to be considerably less than its cost (contrary to the claims by Prime Minister Rudd that it would be commercially attractive for mums and dads to invest in) then, how is that destruction of value justified?
"Can the goal of wider access to broadband be achieved more cost effectively? This is the debate we need to have."
The Commission’s report says cost savings of just 0.5 to 1.5 per cent in the health, education, energy, transport and content distribution sectors over a 10 year period "could justify the cost of building national point-to-point, fibre-to-the-home", but cautions that subsidies are crucial to achieving high speeds in rural areas.
Source by: www.theaustralian.com.au
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