telecommunications

This paper suggests that the forgotten domain of the complex and vigorous debates about the future of higher speed broadband in Australia is the experience and expectations of users and consumers with broadband. Research to date about such user experiences, especially in Australia, has essentially concentrated on Internet services and mainly with narrowband users. Yet Internet is not broadband. We, in Australia, have much to learn from recent European experiences with broadband.

A bird's-eye view of new Western European broadband systems shows just how far Australia is lagging behind, and just how much we are missing out on.

Considerable attention has been given in recent months to the complexity of issues surrounding broadband policy for Australia. While there appears to be widespread support that Australia needs to move from what might presently be called `rudimentary' or possibly `adequate' broadband, and largely only for urban dwellers, there are many calls for the urgent availability of `enabling' broadband. The unravelling of these terms depends upon what users expect from broadband, what speeds they require, and how much they are prepared to pay for the service.

This paper outlines the notion of a 'user centred' broadband system because so little attention is generally given to the demand side of the side of the broadband roll out equation. The author suggests that the Netherlands, Europe's leading county for broadband usage, has created one of the most remarkable models with its Kenniswijk experiment. Over 1000 users were invited to submit proposals for the kind of broadband services they wanted, and test beds subsequently built many of those services that were initially offered for free.