"In Victoria and NSW, smart meters and smart grids are being rolled out with Wimax and mobile technologies and existing fibre assets. Universities in Australia are linked through AARNET at gigabit speeds and even schools are hardly lacking fibre. In 2009, the Department of Education found that 47% of Australias 10,000 schools had fibre. The percentage must now approach 60% following the NSW governments $280 million contract with Telstra to provide fibre to all the states 2400 schools and technical colleges. And much of the infrastructure to provide better health care is in place and can be incremented at low cost. In one ground breaking trial in the Loddon Mallee region in Victoria, Telstra readily provided the 100 Mbit links needed to connect hospitals in Bendigo, Echuca, Mildura and Swan Hill with Melbourne. The trial resulted in 10% less patients having to travel to Melbourne for diagnosis or treatment."
So all this talk about "smart kids", and improved "medical efficiency", and university information exchange if we install FTTH is Labor spin...we have these benefits now. Corporates can buy gigabit speeds now, and Telstra is currently installing fibre in Brisbane homes. The universal FTTH is another momumental labor blunder. At best FTTN would suffice especially "smart kids" outside school, and most other retail internet users will rely on wireless.
