NATIONAL BROADBAND CONNECTION 40 TIMES FASTER FOR BATHURST April 30, 2007

The Federal Labor candidate for Macquarie, Bob Debus, has hailed the decision at the weekend by the ALP National Conference to establish a National Broadband Network as a shot in the arm for Bathurst families and businesses.

Mr Debus said the network, to be rolled out over five years, would connect 98 per cent of Australians to high-speed broadband internet services.

“It will deliver internet services up to 40 times faster than most current speeds in Bathurst,” Bob Debus said.

“This will increase speed to a minimum of 12 megabits per second.

“This means business, education, communication and household services on the internet — including entertainment — will happen in ‘real time’.

“It’s a huge win for small businesses and personal computer users in Bathurst.

“Whether Bathurst families are doing the books, chatting to friends, helping their kids with homework or searching the web, the National Broadband Network will make life easier.”

A Rudd Labor Government would revolutionise Australia’s internet infrastructure by investing up to $4.7 billion, in partnership with the private sector, to establish the National Broadband Network. New services and benefits of the network include:

1 Connection times up to 40 times faster than current speeds
2 Slashing telephone bills for small business
3 Enhancing business services such as teleconferencing, video conferencing and virtual private networks
4 Enhancing capacity for services like e-education and e-health
5 Providing high definition, multi-channel and inter-active TV services

Currently, Australia is lagging 25th in the world for available internet bandwidth.

“There are no medals for 25th – if we want to build long-term economic prosperity once the mining boom is over, now is the time to act,” said Mr Debus.

The National Broadband Network will be funded by using existing government investments in communications to provide a public equity investment of up to $4.7 billion in the new broadband network. This would include drawing on the $2 billion Communications Fund and the Future Fund’s 17 per cent share in Telstra, which, consistent with the legislated position, will earn dividends and be sold down to a normal level over time after November 2008.

“We must remember the Howard Government privatised Telstra – 83 per cent has been sold,” said Mr Debus.