Another country has decided to skip the Fibre to the Node technology being considered by the Australian government and head straight down the Fibre to the Premise path.
United Communications Ltd is planning build a 2,200km network in the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius, and is asking financial support from the government, banks and local businesses.
Although a relatively small nation making it inexpensive to build, it is government policy to make telecommunications the fifth pillar of its economy after sugar, textiles, tourism and financial services, and to become a regional telecom hub with Singapore as a role model.
Just another embarrassment for Australia in terms of our competitive position in the Global Digital Economy. There are several developing African economies who now believe Fibre to the Premise will strengthen their economic performance including Rwanda, Morocco, and Algeria
2 comments:
- At 01 September, 2008 06:22 Anonymous said...
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Stephen,
It's at least fair to remember that Maritius would fit in Sydney - many times over. According to the CIA World Factbook, its area is just over 2,000 square kilometres. The ABS Statistical Division of Sydney is more than 12,000 sq kms.
A fair comparison to Mauritius would be a fibre project covering all of Hawkesbury council's area.
Richard Chirgwin - At 01 September, 2008 13:44 Stephen Davies said...
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Hi Richard,
Thanks for the feedback.
I accept there is a huge size difference between Maritius and Australia, and the costs are significant.
However our GDP is also many times larger than that of Maritius or those other African countries I mention.
The point still stands that if we are to be competitive in the Global Digital Economy, we must have the network capabilities at least the same (if not better) than other nations.
