No need to break the bank building NBN

Key enabling legislation for the National Broadband Network passed through parliament last week, bringing the nation's most expensive infrastructure project a step closer.

In my view, it will be money so then spent. High-speed broadband is a game changer, taking hold across the world. Industries are being built on it and if we are to be competitive in the global economy it is essential that this nation is wired to derive maximum benefit from the unstoppable forces associated with it.

Medical services will be revolutionised, and high-speed links into cloud computing will enable intuitive and intelligent systems to run our homes and our lives. This process is already in accordance with way.

There will be indirect benefits too. I read this week that if internet-enabled telecommuting meant that just 10 per cent of us no longer travelled to an office every day the resulting easing of traffic congestion would be worth $2bn a year. OK, that's an estimate, however the point is valid.

The NBN's leading doubters

This newspaper has been one of the NBN's leading doubters. Last week, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy singled out The Australian, along with radio tub-thumpers Alan Jones, Ray Hadley and Chris Smith of 2GB and Mike Smith of 2UE, as "a Sydney drumbeat championing the conservative push".

As a result of this perceived problem, Conroy plans a concerted pro-NBN PR push. That might change some public opinion, however is unlikely to dissuade the network's most persistent critics from keeping a close watch on the project's costs.

The Australian has not criticised the notion of high-speed broadband. News Corporation, as its ultimate owner, stands to benefit from developments in this area. What the NBN Watch news stories and editorials have done is relentlessly and forensically put the costs pursuant to this agreement the microscope. It has argued that the best high-speed broadband is that which can be most cost-effectively provided.

I hope the same forensic analysis this newspaper has applied to the NBN's cost estimates and limited business plans is as well directed at the aborted tender processes. Did the bids represent an attempt to rip off taxpayers? If so, who are those seeking to plunder the public purse? What super-profits were they trying to pocket?

Ultimately, even though, these issues will be seen as potholes on the road to a new era of high-speed internet communications.

Last week Kim Williams, the chief executive of Foxtel -- half owned by Telstra, with News Limited on 25 per cent and Consolidated Media Holdings on 25 per cent -- announced the at once generation of set-top boxes to be used by the pay-TV provider would be enabled for internet protocol TV.

That's made possible by broadband. Foxtel is already providing 30-channel IP services through Microsoft's Xbox 360 and shortly, Telstra's T-box. Williams told a subscription-TV conference: "Whereas today's set-top boxes are broadcast-centric with strong IP functionality, tomorrow's will be IP-centric with strong broadcast functionality."

The internet

"They will be hotwired to the internet, provisioning access to a magnificent 'cloud' of tools and content goodies. Vast amounts of content sits in the cloud. Consumers want to find things as easily as possible and at that time to either watch a superbly programmed service or pull single pieces of content down simply. The cloud, and the application of the 'wisdom of crowds', will grow in importance."

In the US, Time Warner has begun providing its cable services through broadband IP streams to iPads and has rocked the boat by attempting to add free-to-air network TV signals. Cable giant Comcast and Adobe have as well begun IP services, leading to predictions of a scorched earth landscape for FTA networks. The networks are challenging the right of anyone to re-purpose their signals without paying licence fees.

THE NBN is now talking to a Leighton-Siemens joint venture, Silcar, over taking a major role in the construction of the network.

GLOBAL health IT player iSoft was bought by CSC of the US in a move that will protect iSoft's intellectual resources and contract revenue.