2020 Vision? We'll see.

It is true, there is no denying the fact Australia has possibly one of the least developed broadband structures in the western world, it lags a long way behind Europe, America and much of Asia. I think this strange considering I have found the Australians have a great love affair with new technology, and appear to be some of the world’s greatest early adopters in this area. In my experience, backed up by a little research, I have decided this situation has much to do with the Australian telecommunications incumbent, Telstra, and its apparent inability to see beyond the profit spreadsheets. It seems to be too busy funnelling money to the shareholders rather than investing it in new infrastructure and actually doing something about this embarrassing state of affairs. Telstra’s stranglehold on the telecommunications marketplace means that the smaller telecommunications providers are always behind the proverbial eight ball when it comes to taking the lead and implementing new infrastructure. Of course, this is just my opinion, and thankfully I live in a country where free speech is regarded as paramount and I know that should anyone within the Telstra organisation happen across this little blog post, they will appreciate it for the informed and independent opinion it is meant to be, and if they feel differently they might comment in a constructive and objective manner.

Considering the above it seems to me that Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has taken the lead in sorting this issue out with his newly announced 2020 summit, which will take place in April and will apparently “discuss the challenges facing Australia” see here. However, I personally think he read this article on the BBC news website which describes Australia as, “- a country that is surprisingly backward when it comes to things like broadband speeds and major infrastructure projects” and he was shamed into announcing plans to drag the country into the modern era when it comes to high tech communications. I just hope that Telstra CEO, Mr Solomon Trujillo saw the article too.