31 Aug
2005
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in the bush
A recent report (txt)
by the US federal Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides
a benchmark for considering uptake of the net in rural
Australia.
The USDA indicates that 51% of US farms now have net access,
up from 48% in 2003. Some 58% of farms have "access to a computer"
- the same level as 2003 - with 55% owning or leasing a machine,
up slightly from 54% in 2003. The report unfortunately does
not provide details of the performance of those machines:
how many are new and powerful, how many are relics. Farms
using personal computers for the business increased 1% from
2003 to 31% this year.
The report indicates the usual disparities in income and expertise.
79% of farms with sales and government payments of US US$250,000
or more had access to a computer, 77% own/lease a computer,
66% were using a computer for their farm business and 72%
had net access. 69% of farms in the US$100,000 to US$249,999
sales and government payments cohort had access to a computer,
67% own/leased a computer, 51% were using a computer for farm
business and 59% had net access. Access by the US$10,000 to
US$99,999 cohort was 54%, with 51% owning or leasing a machine,
33% using it for farm business and 46% having net access.
Dialup, at 69%, was the most common method of accessing the
net. 26% of those surveyed indicated that they had conducted
non-agricultural business via the net in the past year.
60% of crop farms have computer access; 33% used a computer
for their farm business in 2005. Net access by crop farms
increased to 52% in 2005, up from 49% in 2003. 57% of livestock
farms had computer access; 50% had net access. Use of a computer
for farm business had increased significantly, to 29% from
2% from 2003.
12% of US farms access federal government sites other than
the USDA, with 4% conducting business with a USDA site. Farms
conducting business with any other federal government site
dropped from 5% in 2003 to 3% in 2005.
at home
The Australian Online Council, a gathering of federal and
state/territory ministers henceforth to be known as the Online
& Communications Council, has announced
that a coordinated and collaborative approach across governments
remains the best and most cost-effective approach to achieving
the broadband policy objectives of the National Broadband
Strategy and improving our global competiteness.
A cynic might respond "well, they would say that, wouldn't they",
as the Council - like many intergovernmental bodies - operates
on a 'consensus' or lowest common denominator basis that elides
underperformance in particular jurisdictions.
The Council noted the work of the National Broadband Strategy
Implementation Group (NBSIG) and, since you can never have too
much of a good thing, commented that
while broadband take-up in Australia has gained considerable
momentum in the past 12 months there is still much that governments
can do to support the availability and effective use of broadband,
particularly in key sectors such as health, education and
local government. Ministers agreed that if Australia is to
reap the gains that broadband can deliver, it must focus on
strategies to coordinate the rollout of new and advanced networks
and to better harness these networks for providing government
services.
Priorities for policy development include
- investigation
of ways to facilitate rollout of new broadband networks
"especially in greenfields sites" (aka the bush), for example
through the "identification of different sustainable investment
models". Just don't mention Barnaby Joyce
- yet
more "strategies, such as the development of new applications
and content, that will improve broadband use in health,
education, local government and other key sectors"; and
- consideration
of " the effective use of broadband by government to improve
the delivery of services".
All
in all it's business as usual.
The media release noted that
While the states and territories reiterated their opposition
to the sale of Telstra, Council agreed that state, territory
and local governments will work collaboratively with the Australian
Government on providing advice on areas of need and demand.
This will inform the implementation, and have input into program
design and evaluation of the initiatives announced on 17 August
2005 by Australian Government as part of the Connect Australia
package. The $113 million Clever Networks program, especially,
is premised on successful cross jurisdictional collaboration
so that funding may be used in the most strategic and effective
manner and fits with existing state, territory and local government
strategies.
Council agreed that making smart use of money to target areas
of demonstrated need is necessary for the development of innovative
broadband networks and innovative applications to improve
the delivery of health, education and other essential services.
Connect Australia, announced
earlier this month, features
a $1.1 billion roll-out of broadband, new regional clever
networks, mobile services and Indigenous telecommunications
[with earnings from] a $2 billion Communications Fund being
available for rural Australia
along with "a more robust regulatory framework for the telecommunications
industry".
It's surprising that the new, improved and robust framework
was not previously available and past performance by the Australian
Competition & Consumer Commission may not encourage great hope
in the breasts of many observers.
The NBSIG has been asked to analyse what can be achieved through
Clever Networks and Broadband Connect funding, with "consideration
of priorities for implementing this program in the health, education,
local government and other key sectors" on a sustainable outcomes
basis
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