Business Stuck In Slow Lane
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday June 14, 2006
SMALL businesses in the Hunter are being forced to move because of a lack of adequate broadband internet access, according to Newcastle MP Sharon Grierson.
Ms Grierson said yesterday she had received hundreds of complaints about poor internet access in the region, including one from a business owner in Shortland who was moving because he could not access broadband."He just cannot compete without access to a fast broadband service," she said.The Herald reported yesterday that complaints from Hunter residents to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman had more than doubled in the past year, reflecting a growing concern about the region's shortfall in high-speed internet access.Ms Grierson, who raised the issue in Federal Parliament yesterday, said a Labor Government would build a nationwide network to provide broadband 25 times faster than the current speed. She said a Howard Government plan to focus broadband infrastructure improvements on capital cities was "a slap in the face to Newcastle and a slap in the face to regional Australia"."We don't just compete locally these days, we compete globally," she said."It's just preposterous to think that only capital cities need high-speed broadband."Hunter Economic Development Corporation infrastructure project manager Ed Bernard said that while existing broadband was often good enough for private users who could get it, companies often needed something faster.Mr Bernard explained that with existing ADSL technology, it was faster to download information from the internet than to upload data.That meant home users could often access what they needed online, but IT-based businesses, medical research organisations and other large companies could not upload or transfer large amounts of information fast enough.Shadow minister for communications and information technology Stephen Conroy is expected to brief the ALP's regional caucus committee today about the issue.
© 2006 Newcastle Herald