[LINK] NBN to cost 24 times South Korea's faster network, says research body

[Richard Chirgwin]

Economist Intelligence Unit intellectually dishonest, says local analyst.

http://yfrog.com/h62uedlj

I projected South Korea onto Australia. It's quite easy with GIS handy: 
pick four control points in South Korea, set new degrees lat/long 
relative to (in this case) Sydney, and georectify. So I can state that 
it's fairly accurate as a representation.

If the EIU has followed the broadband-in-Australia debate for any length 
of time, it also knows *damn* well the differences in population density 
and the impact this has on cost. South Korea's rural density is 
comparable to Australian outer suburbs. SK has no area of significant 
scale with less than 0.2 people per square kilometre, which 
(geographically) describes most of Australia.

RC

On 9/02/11 4:31 PM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> NBN to cost 24 times South Korea's faster network, says research body
> UPDATED James Massola
> From: The Australian
> February 09, 2011 2:46PM
> 111 comments
> http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nbn-to-cost-24-times-s-koreas/story-e6frg6n6-1226002952747
>
> THE National Broadband Network will cost taxpayers 24 times as much as
> South Korea's but deliver just one tenth the speed, according to one of
> the world's most respected economic research organisations.
>
> A paper released by the Economist Intelligence Unit today criticises
> Labor's broadband network on a range of fronts, including its cost per
> household covered.
>
> The report assesses the plans of 40 countries to enable high speed
> broadband development, assessing the target speeds, rollout time frame,
> cost and regulatory provisions to deliver a final ranking.
>
> The research body marks Australia down in its government broadband index
> because of "the huge cost to the public sector" of the NBN.
>
> It also loses points due to limited private-sector involvement, high
> government intervention and the exclusion of state and municipal
> authorities from the plan.
>
> The report highlights the disparity between the cost of the network -
> estimated at 7.6 per cent of annual government revenue - and the cost of
> the South Korean network, which is estimated at less than one per cent.
>
> The report does score the NBN highly for having a target speed of 100
> megabits per second, but it says Sweden, Finland, Estonia and France
> have all set similar targets with much lower costs.
>
> Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull seized on the
> study's findings.
>
> "Now the Economist Intelligence Unit joins the long list of expert
> observers, both international and local, who are utterly dismayed by the
> reckless spending of the Gillard Government on the NBN," Mr Turnbull said.
>
> "The study confirms, yet again, that this NBN project should be the
> subject of a rigorous cost-benefit analysis by the Productivity Commission."
>
> Australia scores 3.4 out of five on the index, trailing South Korea,
> Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, France, Spain and Denmark,
> but it ranks the NBN ahead of broadband plans in New Zealand, the United
> Kingdom and the United States.
>
> A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy defended the
> government's investment in the NBN, adding the government would look at
> the report.
>
> “Comparing Australia to Korea is like comparing apples to oranges.
> Investment in Australia's road, rail, telecommunications and utility
> infrastructure faces vastly different factors than countries such as
> South Korea,” she said.
>
> “Australia's land mass is over 7.6 million square kilometres compared
> with South Korea's which is just over 100,000 square kilometres.
> Australia has a population density of 2.7 people per sq/km compared with
> 487 people per sq/km for South Korea.
>
> “We know that with Australia's population density, there aren't the
> incentives for the private sector to provide the universal high-quality
> broadband infrastructure that all Australians need.”
>