UN Report: Broadband essential for the digital economy
The ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development has now presented its report and recommendations to Secretary General Ban-ki Moon of the United Nations at the September Assembly in New York.
The national broadband developments in Australia, linked to the trans-sector use of broadband infrastructure for other sectors such as healthcare, education, economic and social development, have been instrumental in the formation of the Commission and have supplied guidance for its discussions and reports. The Australian Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy, The Hon Stephen Conroy, is a member of the Commission and has discussed the Australian developments at meetings of the Commission in Geneva and New York.
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development advocates that ‘Broadband Inclusion for All’ will lead to significant social and economic improvements and that broadband infrastructure should be seen as a key element in the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, which address issues such as poverty, hunger, education, child and maternal health and environmental sustainability.
The Commission concludes that broadband serves as a source of digital invention and creativity and can help to generate jobs, growth, productivity and long-term economic competitiveness. The mobile boom in many developing countries clearly shows what telecoms infrastructure can do to improve the welfare and the living standard of many people.
According to the Commission the mobile ‘miracle’ in these countries should now lead to a broadband boom.
Broadband, therefore, will be a game-changer in addressing rising healthcare costs, delivering digital education, empowering marginalised communities and mitigating climate change.
Connectivity and content need to be developed hand-in-hand.
Authored by Paul Budde and a team of international experts, the report presented to the UN is in two parts – a summary report and a modular web-based version. The latter will be open to further contributions from the governments of the UN member states and other experts.
Many examples of trans-sector applications and projects from all over the world are included, as well as statistical information from many leading international sources such as the ITU, OECD and the World Bank – all highlighting the economic benefits of a trans-sector approach to broadband as the key infrastructure for digital development. Broadband can cut a swath through the silos associated with health, education, energy, environment, transport and other sectors and, as such, deliver social and economic benefits well beyond those simply measured in terms of telecommunications.
That is why a different approach is needed towards broadband.
For example:
For every 10% increase in broadband penetration, we can expect an average 1.3% increase in GDP.
The ITU forecasts 900 million mobile broadband subscribers by end 2010 and estimates that by 2015 over half the world’s people will have access to broadband.
Another conclusion from the Commission:
We need to create a shared resource accessible and beneficial to all.
It is therefore important that national governments should strive to ensure adequate spectrum availability, and that they should not limit market entry, or tax broadband too heavily.
The success of this concept depends upon the realities and opportunities for digital development being fixed in the minds of world leaders as a leadership imperative.
Governments will need to ask:
What price will be paid in the brave new world of digital opportunity by those who fail to embrace broadband inclusion for all?
The report and recommendations will be made available to all UN Heads of State, with the suggestion that each government should develop a national broadband plan that addresses its own unique set of political, social, geographic and economic parameters – plus its own plan on how to build the broadband infrastructure that will best serve its trans-sectoral needs. The report can be used as a guideline in this process, from which elements can be chosen that are relevant to individual national situations.
See also:-
- Report authored by Paul Budde, that was presented to the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon on Sunday 19th September in New York. A Platform for Progress.pdf
- Official Broadband Commission press release.pdf which also includes links to further multimedia information.
Tagged in: Australia, Broadband, Broadband Commission, Digital Economy, Global, United Nations, United States of America
September 21st, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Dear Paul,
With all this work I am having unbelievable trouble getting any details or even discussion about the need for robust resilience in any broadband infrastructure particularly when it becomes a mandatory and fundamental part of the digital economy. For example, with FttH, as per the NBN proposal, just what is the UPS requirements for the terminator units at the home/office/premises level? Why cannot we draw through, with the fibre, basic power cabling with necessary AC/DC power needed for both on-premises equipment and repeaters, let alone the myriad of emergency and allied alarm systems that currently depend upon common carrier power supply?
My question to NBN Co. some 4 weeks ago has not even had an acknowledgement!
(Even the Optus broadband ADSL2+ brochure states that users should keep an ORDINARY PHONE available for connection to the phone line in an emergency and if loss of power occurs. Even mobile base stations may go out in such an environment so claiming that a mobile phone is the answer is simply not acceptable.)
Best wishes,
Bill
September 21st, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Bill – I don’t know who or when you’ve been asking, as we have had many long and deep discussions within the industry and including NBN Co regarding security of services, power and battery backup in a workgroup dedicated to such matters within the Communications Alliance working groups, and published in the NBN End User Premises Handbook (available from the Communications Alliance website http://www.commsalliance.com.au/Documents/national-broadband-network).
NBNCo have outlined their approach to resilience and power within their published material, such as the section on ‘Backup battery capability’ in their Response to Consultation Submissions on Wholesale Bitstream Products, and most recently in section 11.2.1.2 of their Fibre Product Technical Specification – I recommend you read this through if you haven’t already. These follow the recommendations of the industry and the Handbook.
NBNCo have stated:
> A Battery Backup capable Power Supply Unit (PSU) can be ordered as
> an optional component to the NTU-R. The battery backup PSU will be
> external to the NTU-R and should be installed indoors adjacent to the
> 240V AC power outlet. NBN Co will not supply, install or maintain a
> backup battery. Provision of a battery within the BBU is the
> responsibility of the End-User or Access Seeker. A standard 12V 7.2Ah
> Sealed Lead Acid battery is required. This battery is similar to the type
> typically found in home alarm systems.
The batteries are readily available in electrical stores. In this model, it is up the user, or their service provider, to decide to use these functions or not according to their needs. If they have one, the RSP can monitor the battery health and status on behalf of the user if they wish.
The example of the Optus ADSL2+ advice doesn’t appear relevent or appropriate for the NBNCo fibre connection, since with ADSL there is still a metallic pair to carry power from the exchange. The base assumption with the fibre (and wireless and satellite) connections is that there is no metallic pair, and no exchange to provide power to one, so keeping a conventional analogue handset around isn’t going to be of any help.
On the suggestion of drawing a power cable through the conduit with the fibre – where would power feed into the other end? there will not be an exchange forever, and the next point out in the network is an un-powered passive splitter module – there is no power there to feed into the cable either. Is it not much more efficient to provide battery backup power to the ONT at a location close to the ONT inside the house and easily observed and monitored, rather than putting the battery at a remote location outside the house, subject to environmental variability which will shorten its life and make maintenance harder, and forcing the battery to push current up a very long line also subject to shovel-failure?
Existing emergency alarms shouldn’t be relying on telephone-line-power either, as this is easily cut by accident or design – best practice from the alarm industry is that they should always have their own backup battery, and not rely on line power.
In other countries where fibre has been rolled out, the alarm systems have migrated to GSM as a backup signalling path if the fibre is cut. Many alarm systems already have this mobile technology built in in case the current telephone line is cut.
As I understand it, this is how the ONTs have been deployed in the Tasmania trial sites – i.e. with a UPS framework, capable of taking a battery but with no battery installed by default. I expect NBN Co, customers and service providers will evaluate how well (or not) this arrangement works throughout the trial and pilot stages, and adjust the main deployment model according to the findings.