Broadband Targets Set

The influential Internet Industry Association has set targets for minimum broadband performance in Australia by 2010. It says 80 percent of the population should enjoy at least 10Mb/sec downstream service, with 67 percent having access to 24Mb/sec.

The 4:1 downstream: upstream ratio is expected to continue for most users, ut it wants to see progress towards symmetrical services for usinesses and omestic power users.

For mobile services, the goal is to make 4Mb/sec common, with symmetric ervices up to 20Mb/sec for those demanding high performance.

These targets are the result of “pitching slightly above what we’ll get if e just try hard. This is ‘try-hard-plus-some’,” said chief executive Peter
Coroneos, unveiling the targets report at a IIA lunch in Melbourne. he association calls for “a coherent, nation-building approach to rovisioning Australians with high-speed, high-capacity Internet.”

The IIA report notes: “Private investment may not be enough to realise our roadband goals. Public expenditure will be necessary to future-proof the Auralian economy by investing in high-capacity information infrastructure, articularly in areas of market failure – that is, areas that are uneconomic r cannot support competition.”

The report presents a destination, not a roadmap: “If we can agree on at east national targets . . . we can have some idea where we are going and hy,” it says.

Says Coroneos: “It’s time to come to a coherent set of targets. Other ountries have already done this and are investing heavily in achieving
them. Such nations will still lead Australia even if the targets are reached, but ost Australians should have significantly better broadband performance by
2010.” – Stephen Withers