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2006 Charles Todd Oration

Robin Eckermann, Information Age

15/02/2007 11:25:09

This annual event is one of the highlights on calendar of the Telecommunication Society of Australia, the event has included Alexander Graham Bell among its orators (in 1910).

It commemorates the achievement of Charles Todd in completing the Adelaide-Darwin telegraph link in 1872, establishing Australia's first real-time connection to the rest of the world.

The 2006 Oration was given in Sydney last November Robin Eckermann, well known for his work in leading the small team that took TransACT from a blank sheet of paper in 1996 to a fully funded company.

He subsequently served as its Chief Architect from 2000-2003, during which period TransACT deployed its fibre-to-the-kerb network, passing some 60,000 homes in Canberra.

Since winding down his involvement in TransACT, Eckermann has been active in pioneering business models for fibre-to-the-home deployments in greenfield estates around Australia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra.

The experience in creating TransACT provided the framework for Eckermann's talk: "What inspired TransACT's establishment was the belief that the world stood on the threshold of a communications revolution - one that history would look back on as having had a profound impact on the way people lived and worked. A vision was developed, the technology needed to support it was selected and tested, a business case was developed and the funding was raised to launch a company in 2000.

"Since 2001, TransACT has been delivering telephony, data and video services (including video on demand) to a growing number of Canberra residents over 50Mbps VDSL connections. TransACT was one of the world's first 'triple play' networks, and even today supports services that many other cities around world can only hope will become available to them in future years."

A key theme in his talk was the importance of adequate broadband infrastructure to Australia's social, economic and environmental future. "Many still think of broadband as little more than a faster means of accessing the Web, rather than a phenomenon that is transforming the way people live and work. It's time we recognised that broadband is the next utility service, one which will become as fundamental to the living standards of Australians as electricity and water."

In this context, Eckermann argues that Australia is falling behind other advanced countries, and faces a major infrastructure investment challenge if it is to tap all the opportunities that broadband can unlock. He identified Federal Government vision and competition as key drivers of progress in the countries that are leading the world with their broadband infrastructure and services.

"In terms of vision, it is unfortunate that in the early days of broadband in Australia the government minister responsible discounted it as being mainly for games and pornography. A similar misunderstanding of paradigm-shifting trends can be found in the advent of rail in the US. Chicago and St. Louis were growing neck-and-neck at the time. Chicago embraced rail and became a powerhouse of economic development, whereas St. Louis dismissed it as a fad and passed laws inhibiting railway construction and protecting water rights-of-way along the Mississippi.

"Chicago has flourished, and St. Louis has been relegated to tertiary status because its growth stagnated as a result of the policies of short-sighted politicians. Whilst there is now better recognition of the importance of broadband, the Government's agenda has for too long been dominated by the goal of selling Telstra.

"Competition policy has delivered good progress in some areas, but has largely failed in others - notably, the residential last-mile where Telstra remains strongly dominant. Investment in refurbishing existing network infrastructure (or building new infrastructure) is critically needed, but Australia does not have the capacity to duplicate such investment. That would make no more sense that building a second set of power lines to give consumers a choice as to how their electricity is delivered."

Eckermann contends it is time for a bold new communications vision in which all Australians have access to the broadband performance necessary to enjoy the social, economic and environmental benefits that broadband can deliver: "Natural monopolies will be part of the landscape - but the policy and regulatory framework set by the Government needs to strike a balance between attracting investment and enabling competition to prevent exploitation of monopoly positions."

"Against a backdrop of national inaction, politics, excuses and self-delusion, the rewiring of half of Australia's national capital stands out as a noteworthy aberration to an unfortunate pattern."

Eckermann highlighted the importance of a clear vision in TransACT's creation, and shared some entertaining stories of how the TransACT team overcame various obstacles and setbacks to deliver a successful outcome against the odds.

In concluding, Eckermann contrasted some of the benefits that technological progress has delivered with new challenges that it has created - in particular, the increasing pressure on the environment.

"Everyone wants growth, but mankind lives on a fixed-size lump of rock in space. Sustainability needs to displace growth as the highest value. Broadband can be one of the tools for alleviating pressure on the environment by using communications in place of alternative energy-inefficient activities."

As a positive contribution on this front, Eckermann announced he was establishing a fund to give a prize for innovative ideas and compelling proofs of the benefits that broadband can deliver in the area of environmental sustainability.

In thanking the speaker, one of the audience - Greg Crew - pledged his support to the fund, and further contributions have since been committed by Water for Rivers (www.waterforrivers.org.au) and Alcatel-Lucent (www.alcatel-lucent.com/au). As a result, the prize kitty will be at least $10,000.

Details of the "Broadband Environment Sustainability Challenge" will be published in the May edition of the Telecommunications Journal of Australia, together with the full text of Eckermann's talk. ACS members can subscribe to this journal via the ACS Web site.