Mainland NBN Begins

Today's announcement by the Minister for Broadband is great news: the NBN has finally commenced on the mainland. It is a nice change to see rural and regional areas targeted for the commencement of backbone infrastructure. While the returns may not be as immediate, the longer term is looking much better.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the social aspects of the digital divide, particularly in education, are a result of the last decade's inaction from the federal government.

That is not to say that the current government's focus on Net censorship hasn't distracted the debate from more important issues like providing all Australians with adequate connectivity. But at least now there are some tangible signs that the wheels of the NBN are actually turning.

More info: Regional Blackspots Program

Re-defining the Last Mile

I found a recent post by the Dodgy Goatee quite insightful, particularly this quote:

We tend to think the problem is solved when we solve the technology problem but the human innovation, the human problem, still remains...

I mistakenly read the 'Last Mile' as a social science comment on the techo-term which usually refers to the medium that connects the end-user's big screen to the provider's big pipe.

Late last year, I worked voluntarily with a Jordanian business to help them enhance their use of Facebook. While the workshop was a success, I had this lingering feeling that there were many deeper issues to comprehend. Indeed, access to high speed Internet in Jordan was less of a hassle than here in Gungahlin - so why was it so hard to find information online?

With all the hype about innovation, I wonder if the situation in Australia is really that different. Sure, having a website now might be no different than having a fax machine in the 80s - it is a necessity for businesses and governments. But is that enough in a Web 2.0 world?

I am tired of thinking about the lost opportunities from the finance and resource gatekeepers who assess the risks of implementing new technologies, waiting and waiting until the last possible moment before giving the go-ahead for technologies that are really yesterday's next best thing. By the time the previous innovation becomes commonplace, there is always somewhere new to be.

It would seem to me that the real last mile is not the wire or airwave that connects the big screen to the big pipe, but the mindset that prevents the opportunities from becoming realities during their heyday. While the momentum needed to bring an innovation to fruition might be fraught with transaction costs which are too much to bear, it would seem that those who are able to adopt new technologies faster than others would experience a window of competitive advantage.

The most important last mile, then, is that big obstacle between the big screen and the big open mind - the end-user. Yet many end-users wish they had the skills to implement the big idea, only the transaction costs appear to be too high.

Is there a solution? To me, the start point is to understand why humans do what they do, but more importantly, why they don't do it. The social sciences provide us with the tools to answer such questions, something which the last few decades and their focus on behavioural economics have had little to say other than how to encourage users to purchase the elusive physical last mile.

To make matters worse, the research culture in Australia was set back decades by previous gatekeepers of research funding, who deemed the humanities and the social sciences to be a waste of time and money. Little wonder that social scientists have been reluctant to step outside the so-called non-economic areas to challenge the status quo.

But if history has taught us one thing, it is that history tends to repeat if we refuse to learn the lessons of the past. If we take any other network technology developed over the last two centuries, we see technological innovations hindered by human obstacles which eventually gaive way a generation or so later to large-scale take-up and sighs of 'I wonder how we ever got along without technology X'.

The minefield of obstacles between innovation and implementation are the real last mile, and this is the area most worthy of further research.

Australia & Jordan: A Quick Broadband Comparison

After a four-month break from the Australian broadband scene, it was interesting to return home to find that online censorship is still making the news. Returning from Jordan, a country which has just slipped to 'not free' in the recent Freedom House rankings, I was surprised to find that iiNet had survived a breach of copyright challenge from Hollywood while the South Australian Government had attempted to restrict online political debate. It seems that freedom remains a relative concept in global terms.

Although Jordan differs from Australia on all aspects social, political, cultural and economic (GDP per capita in Jordan is about 13% of that in Australia), an interesting feature is the proliferation of mobile telephones and the use of Wimax technologies to deploy broadband services throughout the Kingdom. Recently, a second submarine cable has been deployed which will improve the Kingdom's connectivity with the rest of the world. Although connectivity is almost a non-issue for wealthier Jordanians, unlike Australia, Jordan's challenges come from a lack of access to computers and a high level of computer illiteracy.

However, Jordanians can access the Net from a growing number of knowledge stations deployed throughout the Kingdom, Net connectivity is at 12% of the population and mobile connectivity stands at 86% of Jordanian families. I purchased a basic mobile phone for JOD 25 (about AUD $40) and found the service inexpensive (by Australian standards) and impeccable. Indeed, using Zain's network, I was able to make and receive calls throughout Jordan, and even while in Bahrain and Jerusalem at barely more than the cost of a within-country call.

I was able to access the Net faultlessly and at least 2.5mbps in both Amman and Aqaba, using ADSL and Wimax from a variety of providers including Orange (the now-privatised Jordan Telecommunications Group), Zain and Batelco. Interestingly, the speed of the Net in Jordan was better than it is here in Gungahlin tonight!

Although I have plenty of ideas to thresh out, a recurring theme in my ongoing cross-national study of broadband deployment indicates the importance of establishing anchor tenants such as schools, hospitals, libraries and other large-user sites when establishing broadband networks.

It would appear that Jordan has been getting on with the job while Australia is caught up in the politics of it all.

While political freedom in Jordan may not compare well with Australia, it would seem that Australia is not racing away in the broadband stakes. But then, it is all relative.