[LINK] Fairfax press looks at broadband around the world; Australia not doing well; govt intervention needed

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

David references an interesting article, and wites ..

> .. reading the report shows the government's NBN is the only way
> to get high speed broadband around the country ...


Well, not quite. Although i hope it's a publicly funded NBN, from this
article, one imagines this Norwegian idea might well work in Australia.

Dig your own ...

"As summer spreads across Scandinavia, thousands of Norwegians will take 
to the garden with a shovel, digging a trench between their house and a 
metal box at the end of their street.

Altibox, owned by the electricity provider Lyse, has found an ingenious 
solution to the prohibitive costs of installing fibre broadband to 
suburban and regional areas. It offers customers a $450 discount on 
installation costs if they dig a trench between their premises and the 
fibre node at the end of the street. So far about 136,000 households, or 
about 80 per cent of their customer base, have got their hands dirty.

Altibox will not connect a town to the backhaul unless 60 per cent of 
households sign up to its internet service, ensuring every fibre rollout 
is profitable. This is one of many different ways governments and 
businesses are encouraging the spread of fast, affordable broadband."

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Cheers,
Stephen