Article item posted on Tuesday, August 25th 2009 at 9:51 pm

Australia desperately needs the new National Broadband Network.  Our business and social communications labor under two impediments: the tyranny of distance and lousy internet speeds.  Lousy!

The cost of the NBN is staggering – $43 billion and rising; the cost of not installing it promises to be higher.  Our ability to play a meaningful role in world affairs utterly depends on the quality of our communications network.

Minister for Communications senator Conroy has found a way to cut the capital outlay:  aerial cabling.

That’s right.  Slung underneath the minimum five wires of three phase power and Foxtel’s cable that pass every house in built-up areas, will be our broadband connection.

So every street tree will have to be pruned even harder (remember the tree vandalism when the Foxtel cables went up).  With our big houses, small blocks and extensive paving, street trees are usually the most important shading and cooling feature we have available.

The US Defense Department designed the internet’s decentralized network to survive a nuclear war.  Your connection will be at the mercy of possums, tree branches, bushfires and passing trucks. This vital service will not be reliable enough.

And (Ahem!) extra aerial cabling will lower property values by reducing the amenity and aesthetics of your street.

Conroy thinks this is progress.  He is protecting the nation from wasteful spending.

Think again, senator Conroy.

We don’t have to dig trenches everywhere. There has been significant advances in laser-guided horizontal boring – you will have seen the equipment on the streets –that minimize disruption and are LOW COST.

We could underground all the electric wires at the same time.   I’d like to see that!