Conroy reveals Digital Economy Strategy details

The federal government has revealed its ambitions for broadband in Australia, with the release of its Digital Economy Strategy.

The strategy includes spending details on a range of initiatives, including e-health, online training projects, and small businesses and non-profits in and around the first 40 communities to benefit from the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, launched the strategy at CeBIT in Sydney today.

According to Conroy, the government’s strategy will contribute to Australia’s productivity and provide better access to health and education services for Australians, regardless of where they are located.

"Building the NBN is a key step towards that vision, which has, as one of its goals, Australia being among the top five OECD countries by 2020 when it comes to the percentage of households connected to broadband at home,” Conroy said.

Eight core goals

The strategy identifies eight core goals for the NBN, to be achieved by 2020, including ambitions for higher OECD rankings for broadband connectivity and businesses engaging in online trade.

Most notably, the government expects 25% of all specialists to be delivering telehealth consultations to remote patients by 2020.

The strategy also claims that Australia will have “at least doubled its level of teleworking so that at least 12% of Australian employees may work away from the traditional workplace.”

"By connecting to high-speed broadband, households will benefit through savings generated from time-saving activities such as telecommuting for remote work and study and improved access to business and job opportunities, health, education, social and government services," Conroy said.

Digital Economy Strategy spending

Part of the announcement included details of further government NBN-related spending.

"The government will provide $23.8 million over three years for a Digital Communities initiative, a focus of which will be to establish a ‘Digital Hub’ in each of the 40 communities to first benefit from the NBN,” Conroy said.

Conroy said the strategy aimed to help increase the benefits of the NBN to businesses and not-for-profit organisations benefit.

"We will provide $12.4 million over three years to a Digital Enterprises initiative to assist small-to-medium enterprises and not-for-profit organisations (including local cultural organisations) in and around the 40 communities to first benefit from the NBN to help them fully utilise the broadband network,” he said.

The government will also provide $21.7 million for a four-year NBN Enabled Education and Skills Services Program to support the development of online and interactive education and training projects for students undertaking vocational courses.

"The NBN will support the delivery of online learning through the video and web-conferencing platforms needed for 21st century education, training and skills development,” Conroy said.

Finally, the government will allocate $5.5 million to help people in regional areas access healthcare through telehealth and health outreach services.

This figure comprises $2.01m for the Princess Alexandra Hospital to establish several telehealth services for patients living in regional areas of Queensland, and approx $3.5m for a trial of in-home telehealth services for Australians with diabetes living in Townsville.

Industry reaction

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) welcomed the strategy.

“An ICT blueprint is vital to ensure investment in this critical infrastructure meets desired outcomes and that the broadband pipe is leveraged to deliver e-services and develop a competitive e-economy,” said ACS president, Anthony Wong.

Wong called for more attention on education and skills.

“We need more Australians to get active online. Education and skills are key to ensuring that people can participate and leverage the digital economy opportunities,” he said.

“We would like to see the development of more pilot programs on education such as the EduONE - Education Our New England project, as the NBN can aid in the development of skills through online education,” Wong said.

Networking vendor Cisco expressed strong support for the government’s strategy.

“Making the digital economy a national priority will help Australia become more competitive globally and help the nation see firsthand how new jobs, businesses and even new public services will be enabled by a ubiquitous, high-speed broadband-enabled economy,” said Les Williamson, vice president of Cisco Australia and New Zealand.