This was a forecast that award-winning Australian journalist Adam Turner placed in the tech world’s Short-sighted Hall of Fame.
With a 25Mbps connection, downloading a 5GB file (a large software file or update, video game, or HD/4K movie) takes around 30 minutes. At 1Gbps – available with a full fibre connection – the same task takes less than one minute.
Australians have always known a fast and affordable publicly owned National Broadband Network (NBN) is essential for a modern economy.
The Albanese Government is delivering on its vision for a world-class fibre NBN – and we are finishing what we started.
We announced an equity injection of up to $3B into NBN Co to upgrade the remaining Fibre to the Node (FTTN) network.
This will see an additional 622,000 premises move off the deteriorating copper network - around 164,000 across New South Wales.
This builds on our $2.4B outlay to upgrade an additional 1.5 million premises to full fibre by the end of 2025. We are delivering this on time and on budget.
The average Australian household is using more than 450GB of data per month and around 22 connected devices. This is forecast to increase to 1 Terabyte and more than 40 devices by the end of the decade.
Fast broadband enables more people and devices to be online at the same time with minimal disruptions.
But it’s not just about entertainment and seamless streaming. Fast broadband supports access to essential government services, banking and telehealth. It enables us to learn and work online and it is delivering real cost savings.
Households are saving more than 100 hours and $2,580 per year in avoided travel time and costs.
Modelling by Accenture estimates our latest announcement will provide a $10.4B cumulative uplift in GDP over the next decade.
Inexplicably, Peter Dutton and the Coalition want to privatise the NBN, and strand Australians on deteriorating copper that won’t meet future needs.
And they want to increase wholesale NBN prices to make the NBN more attractive to sell.
Peter Dutton is a risk to Australia and cannot be trusted to deliver the essential services we need to build a better future.
Michelle Rowland MP is the Federal Member for Greenway and Minister for Communications. If you need assistance with any Federal issue, you can contact Michelle by phone on 02 9671 4780 or by email at Michelle.Rowland.MP@aph.gov.au