Broadband Services 2015

This project investigates the thorny public policy and operational issues surrounding broadband policy in Australia. The project has two distinct components:

The first, Broadband Innovation, deals primarily with the applications and services made possible by the National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative that are likely to emerge during the new few years, and how Australians might come to use, and value, the proposed new 100Mbps network. Overall the project is situated within the framework of new opportunities for creative industries and national innovation policy. The research proceeds from a basic typology of broadband applications and services – a trio of managed commercial services (notably IPTV), unmanaged open Internet uses (e.g., user generated content, streaming video) and key publicly supported services (e.g., e-Health, e-Education, e-Government, Indigenous communities). Related issues include the new federal legislation relating to NBN, the proposed operational model for the delivery of applications and services over the NBN, likely institutional changes and concerns about operational issues related to end users.

Researchers for the Broadband Innovation component are Trevor Barr and Robert Morsillo.

The second, Home Internet for Remote Indigenous Communities, deals with the provision of in-the-home broadband connectivity in remote Indigenous communities, which lies at the edge of the formal remit of the NBN. Home internet has been the dominant approach for mainstream (non-Indigenous) delivery programs, reinforced by the Australian Government’s undertaking to build the National Broadband Network as fibre-to-the-premises for 93% of the population. However, communications funding programs for remote Indigenous communities continue to promote the extension of internet services via shared community facilities only. The research will provide baseline evidence of barriers, facilitators and needs through engagement with residents in three small communities where there is currently no internet in homes.

The Home Internet project will:
• Assess the reasons and influences for low or no internet take-up and use through engagement with residents in small communities where there is currently no home access.
• Determine needs, including training, affordability, online service delivery, technology and maintenance, in regards to home internet in remote Indigenous communities.
• Provide research that will guide policy makers, funders and service providers in providing effective and beneficial ICT services.

Researchers for the Home Internet component are Ellie Rennie and Julian Thomas.

The two components are distinct exercises and are reported separately on the following page.

Progress in 2010
Broadband Innovation
The project continued its exploration of major questions, notably:
• How might we best explore end user future expectations and social potential of high capacity broadband services?
• How might Australians come to use the high capacity of the proposed 100Mbps NBN?
• How can we construct new opportunities through national innovation policy related to these high capacity broadband initiatives?

During the year NBN became highly politicized, to the extent of becoming a critical policy domain leading up to, and including, the federal election campaign. Hence issues such as the context and possible impact of major national reform legislation of Australia’s telecommunications industry, notably related to the structural separation of Telstra and the creation of a new company, NBN Co, and changes to the notion of universal service obligations through another new company USO Co, needed to be tracked in the context of the above questions. Such considerations were analysed in the overall context of applications and services, and social value of broadband.

Towards the end of the year we held a first joint CCI-IIA (Internet Industry of Australia) research forum with the objective of helping key industry players become more aware of important CCI research projects and for CCI to gain insights into where industry sees value being added through such research. Opportunities for formal collaboration will continue in 2011 arising out of the Australian Government’s announced Convergence Review and the rapid developments in alternative media and content delivery platforms.

Home Internet Project
In 2010 we commenced a six month baseline study into barriers and needs funded by ACCAN. The communities of Kwale Kwale, Mungalawurru and Imangara were approached following a selection process by CAT and CLC, based on capacity, size and prior working relationship. The study (which is due for completion in February 2011) is producing evidence of skill levels, how and where access is already occurring, as well as the reasons why there has been a very low take-up of computers and internet by residents of these three sites. As the baseline study was commencing, CAT was granted infrastructure funding through the Aboriginal Benefit Account (FAHCSIA) to extend internet access as a pilot to homes at these three sites, as well as undertake training and maintenance when required. The work to install computers and internet commenced in the second half of 2010.

Plans for 2011
Broadband Innovation
The project will move further into the direct investigation of user experiences, lifestyle innovation and future possibilities for new applications and services with the residents of greenfield estates, predominantly those located in Victoria, who actually have optical fibre based telecommunications connections in their homes now, and who are at the forefront of the further opportunities presented by the forthcoming NBN investment. It will explore user-innovation when new technologies, new geographies, new households and new communities come together. Qualitative research methods will be used to investigate how users might solve problems of distance, isolation, long commuter times, and access to services using high speed fixed and mobile communications applications. Special attention will be given to applications to IPTV, new video forms, and multiple devices/ multiple access over Wi-Fi that are dependent on higher bandwidth not available over copper at reasonable distances from existing infrastructure.

Home Internet Project
In 2011 we will document the early adoption phase in relation to social, economic and technological factors. This includes the day-to-day circumstances that complicate the use of ICTs in remote communities, as well as usage and community/household responses to home computing and internet. In the long term we will monitor how perceptions towards ICTs change once a critical mass of residents have access and develop a wider portrait of these issues over time. We will investigate whether skills across a range of uses improve by having access at home, as well as family dynamics, such as intergenerational learning and supervision of children online. We will examine home internet access in relation to broader policy issues arising from the NBN and Closing the Gap.

Impact
Broadband Innovation
During 2010, The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research commissioned several papers for the May 2010 edition of their journal from people within different disciplines centred on the theme of national broadband policy. This included a paper by Trevor Barr titled ‘A Broadband Services Typology’, The Australian Economic Review, 43 (2). This work was later advanced with wider notions of innovation, built on industry based interview work, into his refereed paper ‘Expect the Unexpected: NBN Innovation’ presented for the Communications Policy and Research Forum (CPRF) in November 2010. Two specialised domains were also researched, both with keynote presentations to national conferences, namely at the Sports Broadcasting Summit (Sydney, May 2010) and at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), Hobart November 2010.

A measure of the influence of this project is that much of this research projects emerged through commissioned papers and invited keynote conference addresses to diverse groups, as well as presentations to specialised industry and government forums.

Home Internet Project
Ellie Rennie, Andrew Crouch, Julian Thomas and Peter Taylor (2010), ‘Beyond public access? Reconsidering broadband for remote Indigenous communities’, Communication, Politics and Culture, Vol. 43, no. 1.

New Knowledge Generated
Broadband Innovation
One of the most vexed national political debates during 2010 concerned the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network – Australia’s largest ever infrastructure investment. One of best knowledge based achievements of this project was for the researchers to ‘make sense’ of some of the multiple social complexities of NBN in accessible ways, and to place this work, and debate the issues, in the public domain. A key comparative knowledge advantage of the project was the creation of an original typology of broadband applications and services.

Home Internet Project
From the baseline study we have determined that the three major barriers are: the cost of computers/internet, not knowing how to use computers/internet (skills) and not having considered using a computer (at home or elsewhere). In terms of needs, residents discussed difficulty in finding out basic information (such as football results or meeting times) and a small number were interested in learning and using computers for business purposes. Younger people generally stated that they were ‘good’ at using computers, yet further questioning revealed their skills and experience to be limited, suggesting their exposure to a broad range of applications and uses is narrow.