Senator Conroy on Broadband for the World

Greetings from the World Computer Congress 2010 in Brisbane, where Senator Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is speaking on the National Broadband Network. He just returned from New York, where the United Nations Broadband Commission report was released (he was one of the commissioners). The Minister spent most of his speech defending the NBN on costs and benefits. This was one of the best presentations of the Congress and provided a passionate and clear outline of the issues. This complemented Professor SV Raghavan's keynote address on "National Knowledge Network of India: An Instrument of Social Change" this morning.

I was a little disappointed that the Minister did not spend some time talking about the UN report. There is the full report "2010 Leadership Imperative: The Future Built on Broadband" (1.6 Mbytes, 36 pages, PDF), Broadband Commission for Digital Development’s Declaration and Report, UN 19 September 2010 and an Executive Summary (791 kbytes, 32 pages, PDF). This work deserves more detailed examination.Hopefully the UN will release a more accessible web version.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. A 2010 Declaration of Broadband Inclusion for All
2. Executive Summary - A 2010 Leadership Imperative: Towards a Future Built on Broadband
3. Creating a Broadband Development Dynamic: A Strategic Framework for Action
3.1 Policy: From Clear Policy Leadership to an Enabling Environment
3.2 Infrastructure: Investing in Infrastructure for the Future
3.3 Technology: Future-proofing Technology
3.4 Innovation: The Changing Face of Innovation
3.5 Content and Applications: The Growing Importance of Content and Applications
3.6 People: Building the Network of Ideas and Information
3.7 Government: Government takes the lead in creating demand

4. Broadband and the Interlinked and Interdependent MDG Agenda
5. Broadband and Beyond the MDGs
6. Recommendations and Proposed Plan of Action
Acknowledgements