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Title

NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK COMPANIES BILL 2010

TELECOMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK MEASURES—ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS) BILL 2011

In Committee

Database

Senate Hansard

Date

24-03-2011

Source

Senate

Parl No.

43

Electorate

Queensland

Interjector

Hutchins, Sen Steve (The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN)

Page

1984

Party

LP

Presenter

 

Status

Final

Question No.

 

Questioner

 

Responder

 

Speaker

Macdonald, Sen Ian

Stage

In Committee

Type

 

Context

Bills

System Id

chamber/hansards/2011-03-24/0467


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Thursday, 24 March 2011
Page: 1984


Senator IAN MACDONALD (6:09 PM) —I want to confirm, as Senator Birmingham has, that this is far better than the original. It makes me wonder why the government did not pick this up because I am concerned about what the government has been telling us. For example, someone who has been watching this debate and who has some expertise because they worked with the telecommunications industry in Japan has emailed me to confirm that what Senator Conroy has been telling us about satellites—trying to bully us with his greater knowledge—is completely wrong. I will read out, for the benefit of the Senate, this information given to me which compares Japan with the United States:

Japan is unique to the U.S. in that it suffers a significantly larger amount of earthquakes.  Therefore, it is very important for the country to have a communication infrastructure that can withstand such major natural disasters.  Also unlike the United States the Japanese Government directly funds their satellite internet networks.  A couple years ago Japan launched what was known as the KIZUNA satellite, with the primary intent of creating a backup high-speed internet networking system that would replace its ground network during natural disasters.  As it turns out this satellite is quite capable of facilitating a stand-alone high speed internet network.  This satellite contains two antennas …

I will not go into that, but it goes on to say:

Dividing the satellite into two multibeam antennas allows it to efficiently divide up the satellite’s signal so that the limited frequencies can be made available and reused by many different areas.  This new satellite will provide high-speed internet with download speeds of—

Senator Conroy, I hope you are listening—

… 155mbps and upload speeds of 6mbps.  The satellite will be able to provide download speeds of up to 1.2gbps to commercial customers.  These types of speeds are significantly faster than what even today’s fiber optics internet networks can provide and are unheard of speeds for the satellite internet industry.  In addition to functioning as a communication network backup system this new satellite internet service will also target Japan’s rural citizens that do not have access to the country’s fiber optic network and have been forced to receive internet service via DSL.

I only raised that to show that all of Senator Conroy’s bluff and bluster throughout this NBN debate is predicated on him having all the knowledge and no-one else being able to challenge him. And yet here is an email from someone—I do not know the person but I accept that he has some expertise in this—who tells us that what Senator Conroy was telling us just quarter of an hour ago about satellites and their limitations is simply wrong. That demonstrates the whole farce of Senator Conroy’s NBN proposal. Technology is moving so quickly that who knows where it will end up tomorrow, in a week’s time, in a month’s time or in a year’s time.

According to this information, which I accept as being accurate, the new satellite provides download speeds of 150 megabits and upload speeds of six, and it provides high-speed internet of 1.2 gigabits to commercial customers. I think this is probably accurate and whether it is precise does not really matter. What does matter is that Senator Conroy has just spent half an hour telling me, Senator Joyce and Senator Fisher that you cannot get these fast speeds and services from the satellite. However, from the information sent to me it appears that you can. The information seems genuine. The guy has actually rung my office and indicated that he has worked in the industry in Japan. I take him at his word. Whether or not the precise details are right, it demonstrates that a lot of what Senator Conroy tells us is not as accurate as he would have us believe. Going back to the amendment before the chair at the moment, I certainly support the position that Senator Birmingham has indicated.

Question agreed to.