[MLB-WIRELESS] Fw: Broadbanding of Local communities - Outcome of Summit

Wed Dec 18 18:00:56 EST 2002

----- Original Message ----- 
From: pbc at budde.com.au 
To: bpark at theage.fairfax.com.au 
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 1:23 PM
Subject: Broadbanding of Local communities - Outcome of Summit

Dear Barry, 

The Broadbanding of Local Communities

Outcome of the Local Government Summit

Some sixty participants recently attended the Local Government Summit on the broadbanding of local communities.  The Summit, initiated and organised by Paul Budde, was recently held in Sydney.  Among those present were representatives from local councils from the Sydney metro area, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Townsville, Bathurst, Bendigo, Mildura, La Trobe, Newcastle, Snowy Mountains, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie and Bathurst, as well as regional economic development managers from South Australia and Tasmania, and State and Federal Government. Members of the telecommunications industry also attended.

The aim of the Summit was to empower local councils to take charge of building a local knowledge-based society on new broadband networks. The delegates heard presentations from executives involved in several local initiatives:

  a.. Carl Gazia from Bright spoke about the broadbanding of Perth, using both underground and aerial infrastructure from Western Power, the local electricity utility. 
  b.. Bruce Winzar shared his more than five years' experience in successfully developing telecommunication and IT services for residents and businesses in the City of Greater Bendigo. 
  c.. Phil Herrick, the General Manager of Southern Phone in Moruya (NSW), demonstrated a down-to-earth strategy. After several years of hard work, persistence is finally paying off with a $4.7 million government subsidy to broadband several communities on the south-east coast of NSW. 
  d.. John Freeman, the CEO from Neigbourhood Cable, with broadband projects in Mildura, Geelong and Ballarat, proves that it is possible for smaller regional communities to operate profitable broadband networks. Thirty other communities have requested their help. 
  e.. Michael Delgigante, the CEO of TransAct in Canberra, represented one of the world's most progressive broadband projects. He not only confirmed high uptake rates but, as most people are going for the full services bundle, also demonstrated an excellent outlook for good profitability.
Paul Budde presented the Broadband Agenda - a council- or region-driven plan for the development of broadband and the strategies that should flow from it.

As awareness of the potential of broadband is increasing daily, cities, regions and communities are beginning to perceive the social and economic benefits that can be derived from this technology. It is therefore of critical importance that cities and regional authorities take charge of the development of their knowledge-based environments.

A proactive local government is a vital element in the development of broadband - one that is potentially capable of delivering community benefits in education, healthcare, community services, job creation and export.

The council/community should be in charge, otherwise there is a danger that operators will come in and grab the best opportunities, leaving the less attractive remainder in the hands of the councils. Before operators are given the go-ahead for such projects local councils should set their Broadband Agenda and use their influence to ensure a comprehensive roll-out of broadband throughout their community. This can be done in stages - for example, business and government users first - but it should be clearly defined within the parameters of a bigger-picture plan.

The Federal Government's Inquiry into regional telecommunications (Estens Report) unambiguously states that government funding will be required in order to get these broadband plans underway.  I estimate that up to one-third of broadbanding projects is economically unviable and will require government assistance.

There are several options for local government to explore:

  a.. Facilitating roll-outs through cooperative planning procedures. 
  b.. Becoming an anchor tenant for a range of local government and community services. 
  c.. Negotiating assistance and participation from the State Government - for example, by providing education, community and healthcare service via broadband; regional development support funding and access to or participation in a range of other social and economic projects and funding mechanisms.   d.. Facilitating community discussion on the topic and establishing a local Knowledge-Based City Centre to showcase and coordinate the various local projects.
Once the council has a Broadband Agenda in place technical partners can be invited to implement the broadbanding plan.

The Summit came up with three key drivers in the broadbanding of local/regional government areas:

  a.. Creation of wealth - with the slowing down of many traditional economic resources - such as agriculture, manufacturing, fisheries, mining and logging - new ways of wealth creation need to be explored, and broadbanding is one of the most important options that exist for local communities. Both Bendigo and the cities on the NSW South Coast are beginning to reap the benefits of this, with young people coming back and starting IT&T-based activities over new broadband networks. 
  b.. Job creation - many people prefer the lifestyle associated with living in regional areas, and broadband gives them the ability to work from remote places. Our own company is living proof of this - we operate from Bucketty in the Lower Hunter Valley, yet over 30% of our revenue comes from overseas. 
  c.. City marketing (telematics) - broadband is making (regional) cities more attractive to business investments and residential home-buyers.
Plan of action

Local councils were invited to take with them the information provided at the Summit and begin working on their own Broadband Agenda. At the Summit several cities expressed interest in follow-up presentations to councillors and other local government, community and business leaders.

I envisage the next step as follows:

  a.. If a local council is in a position to independently organise and fund its own Broadbanding Summit the next stage is straightforward. 
  b.. If, however, some councils encounter problems, I suggest that the industry could assist in sponsoring a follow-up event. Quite a few key industry players attended the Summit - Telstra, Alcatel, Ericsson, Energy Australia, Comindico, NDC, NOIE, SPAN, Marconi, Emtelle and NEC. These organisations could act as sponsors, provided that they acknowledge the principle that the councils should set the agenda and that their role is one of partnership. I am more than happy to act in a facilitating and coordinating role to get these events off the ground.

As a result of this Summit at least three mini-Summits are planned for early next year (two in NSW and one in SA) and another one in Victoria could follow soon.

Paul Budde

PAUL BUDDE Communication Pty Ltd,
T/As BuddeComm
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BUCKETTY NSW 2250B,
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