Do IT with Fibre - the NBN explained

Paul Heymans operates an IT business serving Somerset Region and is a committee member of the Somerset Region Business Alliance.

High speed Broadband will be a key component of Australia’s future prosperity and it is widely agreed in the telecommunications industry that fibre optic cable is the best way to deliver high speed internet for the long-term.

In the Somerset Region, Fernvale, Lowood, Minden, Coominya, Toogoolawah and Kilcoy where 33% of our population resides are all scheduled to get fibre optic cable with the NBN. There will be consultations with the local community about the exact location of boundaries to ensure there is no silliness like a school getting missed out because they're on the wrong side of the road. Smaller communities within about 1 km of the main trunk lines can also be included. However, in the longer term, it's envisaged that most people in our region will have access to fibre as the lines spread out from the initial centres, much in the same way as the electricity grid now reaches nearly every business and household.

The remaining 67% will get high speed fixed wireless Broadband able to deliver up to 70 Mbps (this is a very different technology from current 3G wireless Broadband delivered over the mobile phone networks). The remaining few who cannot access either fibre optic or wireless broadband will get 12 Mbps satellite Broadband delivered by one of two next generation Broadband satellites that will be launched by NBN Co.

Let's be clear what is being proposed - fibre optic cable will replace the existing copper wire telephone network, delivering telephone services, broadband and video services through the same line. Not interested in the Internet, you just want a telephone that works? You won't notice any difference, except that it will be more reliable, crystal clear and cost much less. Just want telephone and Broadband? It will be available much the same as now, only faster and cheaper. TV and video on demand? Yes, you will be able to get that too. Are you a business person who wants to set up a call centre to take advantage of our well educated, courteous and well motivated work force, so you need bucket loads of bandwidth? Yes, you can do that too. Want to work from home with real time access to your corporate network in Sydney or Melbourne or Beijing or Delhi or New York or London? No problem.

The experience of the electricity grid is relevant to the NBN, when it was first built, nobody could ever have envisaged televisions, microwave ovens, and computers – but none of these things would have been possible without the electricity grid. In the same way, a fibre optic cable National Broadband Network will bring about technological advances that we can only dream about at the present time.

But let's focus on a few practical benefits of the NBN that will be available from the beginning:

Telecommuting - obviously there will be the environmental benefits of taking cars off the road if more people work from home, but the real benefit is that anyone can choose to live in our beautiful region while working remotely for virtually any company in Australia or even in the world.

The NBN will make true HD TV and video on demand a reality, completely replacing current terrestrial and satellite TV.

Full HD video conferencing - whilst it's nice to chat with friends and relatives on Skype, it's a bit jerky and grainy. The high-quality HD video conferencing that will be available via the NBN has the potential to save local businesses travel costs if they do business outside the region, as many do.

Doctors will have online access to medical records and will be able to view high definition CAT scans or X-rays (last time I visited a doctor in Fernvale it took him five minutes to just access my medical records from Lowood). Robotic surgery is already a reality, a surgeon in Brisbane or Sydney will be able to perform operations at the Esk Hospital. Medical monitoring technology has been developed by Intel that will make it possible for many patients, especially the elderly and long term ill to be monitored at home. While this comes at a price, it will be a fraction of the cost of keeping them in hospital and also frees up doctors, nurses and beds.

Ultra high speed internet will enable our farmers to track what's happening across their farms using very high definition satellite images, it will give them improved access to national and overseas markets, and enable them to better track weather and produce prices.

We've all lost valuable data at some time in our lives, if you have loads of digital photos and videos or vital business data, then secure offsite storage and backup will be viable. You don't have to worry about computer failure, theft or fire in your home or business again.

Schools will be able to share foreign language lessons with other countries, or just share teachers between schools, with the pupils able to see the teacher and the teacher able to see the pupils. It will be possible for them to take virtual tours of famous museums. Students working from home will be able to easily access the best university lectures from around the world.

You may think computer games are just for fun, but the computer games industry is bigger than the Hollywood movie industry. The NBN will benefit gamers by reducing latency and increasing bandwidth.

The cost of phone calls will plummet too. The first NBN customers in Tasmania already have access to combined 20 Mbps Internet and telephone plans that include all phone calls for $55 per month.

And one really important benefit for our community will be the employment opportunities, not just as a result of the NBN arriving in our region, but during the construction phase of one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the history of Australia.

How we need to prepare will become clearer during the next few months, but some things are obvious. For example, there is massive housing development taking place throughout much of the Somerset Region, it makes sense for the fibre optic conduits to be installed along with other services.

Our elected leaders need to work closely with representatives from community organisations and the business community to ensure we are well prepared to take full advantage of the NBN. There needs to be planning, there needs to be physical preparation, and there needs to be education so we can hit the ground running when the NBN arrives.