BuddeBlog

The accidentally tabled report is also providing some further food for discussion about the future of the company.

True, Telstra is in a difficult position, as it faces significant challenges that cannot be addressed without making some major structural changes to the way the company operates and sees its future.

This restructuring will be extremely difficult – under the previous management this topic was taboo and so the company is now suddenly faced with having to make decisions on the run, which is never a good thing to do.

However, this is a problem of its own making. The rest of the industry and the government have been discussing these issues for five years and are therefore in a much better position to plan their future.

This is clearly evident in the government plans. These are well thought through and give Telstra (and the Opposition for that matter) little room to manoeuvre. There is no way that these issues can be solved without structural changes. Telstra knows this and intellectually accepts the fact.

This new situation gives the company a unique opportunity to do a whole-hearted job here – to seize the bull by the horns and develop a long-term strategic plan for the company, albeit under pressure.

There is no simple solution, nor would it be in the company’s interest to simply decide between an option A and B. The valuation is an interesting element of it but it has not encouraged me to look at the situation differently.

The fact remains that the copper network is steam train technology and it should be remembered that the best ever steam train was built right at the end of the steam era. It could travel at 120mph, which is still a good speed even by today’s standards. However that era was over by then, and those very fast steam trains were scrapped at a value far below their original cost.

The same situation exists in relation to the copper-based network. Whether it is right or wrong, good or bad, that is the reality and there is no doubt that this will form a key element of any valuation discussion.

The end of the steam train era didn’t mean the end of the basic railway infrastructure however. That had, and still has today, an enormous value.

The current circumstances offer Telstra an excellent opportunity to jump from the age of copper into the new fibre era. What a fantastic opportunity, since everybody agrees this is where the future lies. There are many choices available to it and many new financial opportunities. For this it will have to think outside the box and to a certain extent ignore the current political and shareholder kafuffle. Telstra should not use the misguided tactic of delay – this could be presented to them by the Opposition who doesn’t have either Telstra’s not the national interest at heart but whose gaol simply is to derail the plan –to do a half-hearted job or to slide back into the comfort zone of the old copper era.

In the end it will come down to true leadership and nothing else. The question is: can the current leadership now make some important decisions quickly – decisions that will secure the company’s future and its future profitability. In my opinion the answer is yes.

Here are some of the options:

• It can sell certain parts of itself to NBN Co;
• It can still milk the copper network and generate profitable revenue for the next 3-5 years;
• It can divest the digital media elements of the company and create very significant new shareholders value;
• It can offer its infrastructure to NBN Co and take on outsource work for that company, which will deliver ongoing income;
• It can be the key builder of the value-added ICT infrastructure – on top of the basic pipes – needed for the various sectors that are going to form the basis of the digital economy;
• It can exploit the retail fact that it has 10 million customers;

…. and there are no doubt more options.

None of these options are mutually exclusive and combinations are possible. If Telstra plays it well I see more ups than downs.

Will this be easy? No. It will certainly require top quality leadership to guide the organisation through, and great vision will be needed to identify where the true value of the company lies and how to best develop strategies that will deliver the right outcome.

There is no doubt about the difficulty the organisation is experiencing, and I certainly don’t underestimate this. An acute juggling process will be needed to bring all the different elements together, but it can be done and I have faith in the capability of the current Telstra leadership.

Paul Budde.

See also:

Australia – National Broadband Network – Competition and Regulations

Australia – National Broadband Network – Design and Deployment Strategies

Australia – National Broadband Network – Early Projects

Australia – National Broadband Network – Industry at crossroads

Australia – National Broadband Network – NBN Co and Infrastructure

Australia – National Broadband Network – Overview & Analysis

Australia – National Broadband Network – Telstra

Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model

Australia – National Broadband Network Trans-sector projects

Tweet This Post

Regardless of whether the information in the wrongly tabled ACCC report on Telstra is damaging or not the most important issue is that it breaches the trust relationship that has been slowly re-established between the government and Telstra. It was therefore good to see the Minister apologising to Telstra’s CEO.

The company showed leadership by not immediately reacting to the report, but nevertheless it will not have been impressed by this accident.

As it is also not in the interest of the government it does appear to have been an honest mistake and not a deliberate leak. Nevertheless it has been a very careless and potentially damaging affair.

The major damage is not so much to the negotiations between the government and Telstra; the government, of course, already had all that information. Also most of the information was more or less known at a high level within the industry, albeit not at the detailed level provided in the report.

The main harm resulting from having this information made public is that competitors and others (such as the Opposition) can use it to get a deeper understanding of some of the issues Telstra has been grappling with and the accounting and strategy methods that Telstra has been using in these situations. It can also be used by competitors to check some of the issues that they themselves have been dealing with, and obviously people are already meddling in it for their own reasons.

It is important to make the point, however, that the report reflects a totally different Telstra. It goes back to a period when Telstra was at war with the government and wanted at all costs to protect its monopoly. Information that dates from such a period will be heavily tainted by the strategy of that time.

Under the new management Telstra’s position, strategy and relationship with the government is totally different and it is likely that a report written about Telstra today, with the company focussed on the future rather than the past, would be very different. Also, at this point in time, Telstra would probably have used certain information differently. Most data can be used to either undermine a case or to support one; it is often a matter of spin.  In that respect the information in the report is less relevant.

Despite the unacceptable error, I believe that the relationship between Telstra and the government is sufficiently robust at present to weather this storm.

Paul Budde

See also:

Australia – National Broadband Network – Competition and Regulations

Australia – National Broadband Network – Design and Deployment Strategies

Australia – National Broadband Network – Early Projects

Australia – National Broadband Network – Industry at crossroads

Australia – National Broadband Network – NBN Co and Infrastructure

Australia – National Broadband Network – Overview & Analysis

Australia – National Broadband Network – Telstra

Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model

Australia – National Broadband Network Trans-sector projects

Tweet This Post

The accidentally tabled report is also providing some further food for discussion about the future of the company.

True, Telstra is in a difficult position, as it faces significant challenges that cannot be addressed without making some major structural changes to the way the company operates and sees its future.

This restructuring will be extremely difficult – under the previous management this topic was taboo and so the company is now suddenly faced with having to make decisions on the run, which is never a good thing to do.

However, this is a problem of its own making. The rest of the industry and the government have been discussing these issues for five years and are therefore in a much better position to plan their future.

This is clearly evident in the government plans. These are well thought through and give Telstra (and the Opposition for that matter) little room to manoeuvre. There is no way that these issues can be solved without structural changes. Telstra knows this and intellectually accepts the fact.

This new situation gives the company a unique opportunity to do a whole-hearted job here – to seize the bull by the horns and develop a long-term strategic plan for the company, albeit under pressure.

There is no simple solution, nor would it be in the company’s interest to simply decide between an option A and B. The valuation is an interesting element of it but it has not encouraged me to look at the situation differently.

The fact remains that the copper network is steam train technology and it should be remembered that the best ever steam train was built right at the end of the steam era. It could travel at 120mph, which is still a good speed even by today’s standards. However that era was over by then, and those very fast steam trains were scrapped at a value far below their original cost.

The same situation exists in relation to the copper-based network. Whether it is right or wrong, good or bad, that is the reality and there is no doubt that this will form a key element of any valuation discussion.

The end of the steam train era didn’t mean the end of the basic railway infrastructure however. That had, and still has today, an enormous value.

The current circumstances offer Telstra an excellent opportunity to jump from the age of copper into the new fibre era. What a fantastic opportunity, since everybody agrees this is where the future lies. There are many choices available to it and many new financial opportunities. For this it will have to think outside the box and to a certain extent ignore the current political and shareholder kafuffle. Telstra should not use the misguided tactic of delay – this could be presented to them by the Opposition who doesn’t have either Telstra’s not the national interest at heart but whose goal simply is to derail the plan -to do a half-hearted job or to slide back into the comfort zone of the old copper era.

In the end it will come down to true leadership and nothing else. The question is: can the current leadership now make some important decisions quickly – decisions that will secure the company’s future and its future profitability. In my opinion the answer is yes.

Here are some of the options:

• It can sell certain parts of itself to NBN Co;
• It can still milk the copper network and generate profitable revenue for the next 3-5 years;
• It can divest the digital media elements of the company and create very significant new shareholders value;
• It can offer its infrastructure to NBN Co and take on outsource work for that company, which will deliver ongoing income;
• It can be the key builder of the value-added ICT infrastructure – on top of the basic pipes – needed for the various sectors that are going to form the basis of the digital economy;
• It can exploit the retail fact that it has 10 million customers;

…. and there are no doubt more options.

None of these options are mutually exclusive and combinations are possible. If Telstra plays it well I see more ups than downs.

Will this be easy? No. It will certainly require top quality leadership to guide the organisation through, and great vision will be needed to identify where the true value of the company lies and how to best develop strategies that will deliver the right outcome.

There is no doubt about the difficulty the organisation is experiencing, and I certainly don’t underestimate this. An acute juggling process will be needed to bring all the different elements together, but it can be done and I have faith in the capability of the current Telstra leadership.

Paul Budde.

See also:

• Australia – National Broadband Network – Competition and Regulations
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Design and Deployment Strategies
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Early Projects
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Industry at crossroads
• Australia – National Broadband Network – NBN Co and Infrastructure
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Overview & Analysis
• Australia – National Broadband Network – Telstra
• Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model
• Australia – National Broadband Network Trans-sector projects

Tweet This Post

While global Internet bandwidth expanded by around 64% in 2009; Internet traffic was expected to grow by over 70%. A study by Telegeography found that much of the demand is coming from the emerging markets, such as the Middle East where traffic growth is expected to reach 116%. In contrast the US will grow by 56%.

Telegeography states that network operators continue to build enough capacity to handle demand, with operators expecting to bring an overall 9.4Tb/s of extra capacity online in 2009.

Telegeography also observed that:

• International Internet traffic grew 74% in 2009 (a rise on the 55% recorded in 2008);
• Prices continued to decline, especially for high capacity ports.

For further information, see separate report: Global – Internet – Search Engines, Websites & Internet User Statistics.

Tweet This Post

Around two-thirds of all Internet users are non-English speaking. A significant barrier remains for many of the potential users as Internet domain names are in a restricted set of Latin characters, most commonly used to write English. Speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tamil, Thai and other languages are at a disadvantage.

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) [www.icann.org/topics/idn/] are domain names represented by local language characters. Such domain names could contain letters or characters from non-ASCII scripts (for example, Arabic or Chinese). Many efforts are ongoing in the Internet community to make domain names available in character sets other than ASCII as at least 50% of Internet users use scripts based on languages other than Latin.

ICANN has been testing addresses using non-English characters for a number of years and in late 2009 it was announced that it would most likely approve the use of domain names written in other languages. If the approval goes ahead ICANN will accept submissions for non-English domain names and the first available addresses would become available in mid 2010.

For further information, see separate report: Global – Internet – Search Engines, Websites & Internet User Statistics.

Tweet This Post

The billions of mobile and online Internet users worldwide are creating huge opportunities for the development of e-commerce and m-commerce. The financial crisis has focused global attention on new infrastructure developments and facilitated a unique opportunity to shift the broadband emphasis from a high-speed Internet service to a national infrastructure for the digital economy that will underpin a range of positive social and economic developments. E-commerce is just one sector that will benefit from improvements in infrastructure and a trans-sector approach to governance. E-government, e-health, e-education, social media and e-science are also important elements of a digital economy.

While the economic slowdown is curbing e-commerce growth somewhat in most markets, there is evidence so far that the online retail market has remained steady due mostly to the lower prices and convenience offered via online shopping. Spending on online advertising also continues to grow in the face of economic uncertainty and in 2010 online advertising should account for around 13% of overall ad spending worldwide.

Alternative payment systems are gaining much attention in 2009 as consumer demand grows for different payment methods other than credit cards. As online retailers expand globally they are also beginning to discover that cultural differences may impact upon payment method preferences. For example, in the developing markets where credit cards and bank accounts are scarcer, consumers may prefer to pay in person at a bank or by postal order. Electronic bank transfers and billing goods to phone accounts are other examples of alternative payment methods. As the complexities and security issues surrounding e-payments increase, some online retailers are turning to outsourced payment processing companies to manage their e-payment solutions.

There is a massive change underway in the mobile media market as it becomes unshackled from the operators’ portals that have dominated it for a decade, all without having made any significant inroads into the content use of mobile users. The new capped data packages, fuelled by further competition, will see a total revamp of the mobile media market. It will no longer be based on portals but on direct services by content and services providers via open source phones and mobile-friendly Internet-based services. The next step is the continued emergence of m-commerce and in particular m-payment services.

There is keen interest in m-payment and m-banking among mobile operators in developing countries such as Kenya, the Philippines and India. The revenues are indeed growing, but can this new business also be profitable? The often quoted pioneer success story is M-Pesa in Kenya. While M-Pesa by itself is not yet profitable, it is growing very fast and already makes up around 4% of the operator’s total revenues (up from only 0.6% in 2008). These developments will create a new e-payment system for the mobile market, away from the hefty charges the carriers put on Premium Rate SMS payment facilities. However, there is a limit to the mobile networks’ spectrum capacity, and we will have to wait for true IP-based wireless broadband to become available before the operators can fully deliver on the promise of mass market mobile broadband.

In 2009 the interest surrounding Near Field Communications for m-commerce and m-payments continues unabated, with further trials being conducted around the world. Financial transactions via mobile phones are set to rise substantially in the coming years as banks and mobile operators continue to work together.

Social media is becoming a key focus in the digital economy as the leading players in this sector look to expand their services and incorporate e-payment and m-payment services. This seems a logical move for companies such as Facebook, as they have built up large and loyal customer bases from social networking services. Around 20% of Facebook’s online users now access the service via mobile each month. Its online customer base sits at around 300 million and Facebook is expanding into e-payments/m-payments via partnerships with Zong and Boku.

This report provides a valuable insight into the developments taking place in the digital economy in terms of e-commerce and m-commerce. It includes information and broad global market statistics for the e-commerce, e-payment, e-banking sectors as well as the m-commerce, m-payment and m-banking sectors. The report also includes brief case studies on some of the key markets identified for future growth such as the USA, China and Africa. Regional information on developments in North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific are also included.

Key highlights of the new BuddeComm Report:

• PayPal is still by far the most popular online payment system worldwide, with around 45% of its customers based outside of the US. Other interesting models are also emerging such as Twitter’s TwitPay.
• It is expected that PayPal will contribute around a third of eBay’s overall revenue in 2009.
• China now has more Internet users than the USA and these two markets, among others, now offer significant opportunities for those operating in the e-commerce space.
• In most global markets, online travel has been one of the most successful e-commerce categories.

Online travel sector market summary

(Source: BuddeComm based on various industry sources, 2009)

• E-commerce security concerns continue to persist with many consumers still reluctant to impart credit card information over the Internet and mobile devices.
• The developing markets of Kenya, Philippines and India are currently driving developments for micro-credits and micro-payments and it won’t be long before these models start arriving in the developed markets as well.
• Mobile banking also found its initial success in the developing world where financial services are poor. The sector was also stimulated by the high charges which banks demanded for conventional money transactions. In coming years, growth will also come from mature markets as consumers turn to mobile phones as an adjunct to popular online banking services.
• China’s m-commerce market reached RMB1.3 billion ($163 million) in 2006 and is forecast to reach RMB7.6 billion ($953 million) by 2010.

For more information on the new BuddeComm report Global Digital Economy – E-Commerce and M-Commerce Trends and Statistics see: Global Digital Economy – E-Commerce and M-Commerce Trends and Statistics

Tweet This Post

AT&T recently made some interesting observations in relation to network capacity, which further highlighted the need to move the telecoms infrastructure into the new age of the digital economy, and the need to also move towards all-fibred networks, the necessary starting point for the future.

AT&T’s own statistics might give an indication that waiting is no longer an option. This means that the capacity it carried in 2008 will be ‘a rounding error five years out’. Some telco operators experience annual growth of between 30%-50%.

Table 1 – AT&T’s backbone capacity statistics

Source AT&T October 2009

All telecoms carriers will need to rethink not just their engineering but their whole operation – how to inter-operate with a growing and diversifying trans-sector of content and services providers and how to construct utilities networks.

Cloud computing might bring some relief but, again, for this to happen a far more serious standardisation process will need to be launched. Such processes typically take years, a fact that is becoming more and more of a stumbling block in a world of rapidly evolving technology developments.

Some countries are beginning to understand the national social and economic importance of this infrastructure and, with telcos reluctant to move ahead, they are taking their own initiatives. It won’t be long before the trend of utilities-based infrastructure becomes universal; this will happen because it is clearly too important for the economy of the country.

Telcos have two options.

• Wait and see (‘fast followers’), and be led by others; or
• Embrace the challenge and be part of it.

Only one option gives job protection, creation and satisfaction, plus sustainable growth.

Backbone capacity is as important for mobile players. They all preach the enormous benefits of wireless broadband but few, if any, could cope with the capacity requirements if these networks were provided to customers at an affordable level. The fact that prices are kept relatively high doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of competition; it is more related to a lack of capacity.

In the structural separation in New Zealand, mobile operator Vodafone is seen as the major winners of this policy. They now can bypass the expensive backbone from the incumbent fixed telco operator and buy cheap capacity from the national utility, and this will have a significant effect on their end-user prices.

For related information, see separate reports:

• Global – Infrastructure – National Broadband Networks (NBN);
• Global – Infrastructure – Next Generation Telecoms;
• Global – Broadband – FttH Overview & Statistics;
• Global – Broadband – Regulating Fibre Access;
• Global – Industry – Wholesale Markets;
• Global – Investing in the Communications Revolution;
• Global – Analysis – Business Opportunities beyond Structural Telecom Changes;
• Global – Economic Crisis – Strategic Developments for Comms during the Crisis;
• Global – Economic Crisis – Strategic Vision for Comms after the Crisis;
• Global Recovery will Depend on Trans-Sector Vision;
• Global – Trans-sector strategies – an empirical approach.

Tweet This Post

• The NBN plan also allows for high-speed wireless out beyond the end of the fibre. This opens up opportunities for video applications for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. A caller in the bush could show the doctor what is happening, thus improving quality of care and potentially reducing the number of flights.
• Similarly, there are numerous small medical facilities in Australia that, although in medium-sized towns, are still quite a long way from anywhere; these could benefit from a fast uplink for medical imaging.
• It takes 2 hours and 20 litres of fuel to courier one x-ray the 200km from a remote hospital to a regional centre hospital for specialist assessment. It takes ‘one-click’ and less than 20 seconds on the NBN. (Saves time and carbon and provides economic benefit).
• Up to four times a year regional health and educational professionals will fly, or drive, an average of 250km to reach ‘face-to-face’ vocational training at a central tertiary facility. A PC, webcam and the NBN achieves that same ‘face-to-face’ professional development without anybody burning time and fuel, or leaving the district. (Saves time and carbon and provides economic benefit).

See also:

• Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model
• Australia – National Broadband Network Trans-sector projects
• Australia – Digital Economy – E-Health

Tweet This Post

BuddeComm has updated its Madagascar report, providing an overview of the country’s telecoms market, profiles of major players in all market sectors, relevant statistics, and scenario forecasts to 2010 and 2015 for the mobile, Internet and fixed-line market.

The most significant development this year has been the arrival of LION, the first ever international submarine fibre optic cable to serve the island. However, so far it has failed to make broadband more affordable in the country – four months after the cable landed, prices for broadband services are largely unchanged. The operator of the cable, Orange Madagascar is calling for a review of the regulatory framework for the provision of wholesale services through the cable (also see our recent blog post: “Fibre set to boost Madagascar’s broadband market, if…”

Madagascar’s exposure to the global economic crisis is amplified by political instability following the military coup of early-2009. This has led to weak subscriber growth, reduced consumer spending and, as a consequence, intensified price competition between the three mobile network operators. The launch of the fourth mobile network has been delayed. The country is expected to dip into negative GDP growth in 2009, but a return to positive growth is expected in 2010. Plans to exploit and export crude oil, gas and other natural resources may deliver a boost to the economy.

For more information, see:

Madagascar – Telecoms Market Overview, Statistics & Forecasts.

Tweet This Post

The smart grid study from Logica, which was published in October 2009, reveals that the electricity industry is still extremely reluctant to embrace smart grids.

It was this reluctance that stopped the supporters of the concept from making any progress when we first opened the smart grid discussion in 2004. At that time, under the previous government, there was even a reluctance to take issues such as energy savings and environmental issues seriously.

Because of the electricity network breakdowns that had taken place around that time – in particular in Victoria and South Australia – the industry’s focus was on network efficiency and reliability. It wanted to improve this by getting more control over the use of energy by its customers and this was something that could be done through smart meters, which would allow the utilities to manage energy at people’s homes. By, for example, tariffing peak and off-peak usage they had a tool to influence customer behaviour. The hundred-year-old technology used for this is based on dozens of non-compatible proprietary pieces of equipment, and it had no serious communication component. The notion of the customer becoming more interactively and personally involved with their own energy management was simply not part of its plan.

From the industry’s viewpoint smart grids would erode their revenue – as energy savings of up to 30% can potentially be achieved distributed energy would also undermine their energy business. Furthermore, distribution companies are running a regulated business, so there is no incentive for them to innovate.

So large parts of the industry don’t see any need to look at these developments within the context of smart grids. This view was also supported by the Department of Energy.

Things began to change along with the change of government in 2007. Energy-saving and climate change were among the top issues of the new government and smart grid would have to play a leading role in the management of renewable energy within the grid. The Smart Grid Australia industry alliance was formed, which included the industry’s total ecosystem: distribution companies, renewable energy companies, telecoms operators, the IT industry, management consultants, the e-car players, governments, R&D institutions and universities.

The present Prime Minister had already shown an interest in smart grids while in opposition, and he became an ally in these developments. Only when he put smart grid on the political agenda did we start to see a change within the industry. Suddenly the term ‘smart grid’ was adopted by the industry and they became involved in the discussion. The Prime Minister was certainly also influenced by the leadership taken by President Obama in the USA, who had put $4.5 billion aside within his stimulus package for smart grids. Under the leadership of people like Obama and Rudd further government initiatives (legislation) could well follow from the Copenhagen Conference in December.

However, the Logica study shows that the involvement of the industry is still half-hearted. Most power distributors don’t have a smart grid strategy in place and are still reluctant to change. They believe that they could make any necessary changes in a slower, more evolutionary way. Rather than looking at the total picture they believe that incremental changes, over time, will do the job. The words ‘sexy’ and ‘buzzword’ was mentioned in the study, indicating that some aren’t taking the issue of smart grids very seriously at all.

Interestingly, however, the message differs depending on whom you speak to in the industry. There are many people within the industry who are very heavily involved in smart grids; who are great supporters of the concept; and who are beavering away within their respective organisations. However this has not yet turned into a corporate smart grid policy supported and championed by the top people of these organisations.

The Logica study, therefore, sends out a sobering message – that a lot still needs to be done to convince the industry that smart grids are important enough for them to start developing their smart grid strategies.

The truth is that smart grids will have an enormous transforming effect on the energy utilities; they are facing similar challenges to those faced by the incumbent telcos following the advent of the Internet. Whether they like it or not, smart grids will be the infrastructure of the future and the industry will have to choose whether to become involved and take a leadership role in this development, or to wait for the Googles and Facebooks, who are now eating the telcos’ lunches.

The telcos are now complaining bitterly as they face the very serious consequences of their initial denial of the importance of the Internet when it arrived some 15 years ago. At the moment organisations like Google, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and many others are taking smart grids extremely seriously, as are governments around the world.

On the positive side, the electricity industry at least showed support for the government’s Smart Grid/Smart City project; nevertheless most were taking a wait-and-see approach.

The future scenario looks a like a 75%+ reduction in fossil fuel use for electricity generation by 2050. This has to happen progressively, from now, and the replacement is clean, renewable energy. Some renewable energy will be large wind and solar farms connected to the grid. Others will beCO₂ neutral buildings and houses connected to the distribution network. Feed-in tariffs and rules for independent players to enter the market need to be created, or developed as a result of innovation.

The electricity distribution network will remain, but it has to become smarter to handle the two-way energy. By delaying involvement in smart grids energy companies may be succeeding in preserving their monopoly to supply energy, but they are not moving with the inevitable change that all governments around the globe will drive through Copenhagen this December.

Energy companies have two options – to wait and see (‘fast followers’) and be led by others, or to embrace the challenge and be part of it. Only the latter option gives job protection, creation and satisfaction, plus growth for Australia.

On the issue of using the NBN as the communication infrastructure for smart grids, there was, at a minimum, a neutral attitude, but here also we saw many reasons for the objections that were made.

Lack of a clear understanding of the NBN project might be a key reason for this. However those within the electricity industry who do understand the benefits of this approach – 25% of respondents do have a smart grid strategy in place – are already talking to NBN Co. That broadband infrastructure organisation has a can-do approach and will most certainly look seriously at how it can best align plans with the outcome of the Smart Grid/Smart City project. The timing could fit well, as the major start of the demo smart grid project rollout will take place over a 3-year period.

However the NBN is only one of many other comms solutions available to the utilities. Service provider AusNet recently chose to use the WiMAX solution by utilising spectrum made available to them by wireless broadband operator Unwired.

Paul Budde

See also:

• Australia – Electricity Market – in 2009
• Australia – Energy Utilities Markets
• Australia – From Smart Meters to Smart Grids
• Australia – Smart Grid Australia
• Australia – Smart Grids – Analysis – The Market in 2009
• Australia – Smart Grids – Climate Change and Photovoltaics
• Australia – Smart Grids – Demand Side Management
• Australia – Smart Grids – Major Players & Projects
• Australia – Smart Grids and BPL
• Australia – National Broadband Network based on Trans-sector model
• Australia – Utilities Broadband – BPL Access

Tweet This Post