Geek Tested:

Australia Pledges 100Mbps Broadband for 90% of Population within 8 Years

Posted 04/07/09 at 02:50:08 PM by Paul Lilly

Twenty years ago, Crocodile Dundee would have been the first thing we thought of when someone mentioned Australia. Eight years from now, we'll be thinking of crazy fast broadband when talking about our friends from down under. That's because Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced an ambitious $43 billion project to build a high-speed, fiber-optic broadband network that would bring up to 100Mbps to 90 percent of the country's population.

"It's time for us to bit the bullet on this," Rudd said when announcing the decision. "The initiative announced today is a historic nation-building investment focused on Australia's long-term national interest."

According to Rudd, the broadband proposal would provide 37,000 jobs at the peak of construction and help boost the economy. The Government would be responsible for an initial investment of $4.7 billion, and up to 49 percent of the funds to be from the private sector. Under the project, homes not benefiting from the fiber-optic rollout will still have access to 12Mbps via wireless and satellite.

Image Credit: Flickr

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if the u.s. economy gets better in 4-8 years...
Submitted by jvc08 on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 1:19am

right now, there are more important things that need to be done, besides internet download speeds. i think.

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Caps
Submitted by quadcoregammer on Sat, 04/11/2009 - 6:27pm

(*_*)

($_$)

I wonder if they are going to put those bandwith caps in place like in the U.S.

That would be the only downturn.

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Must be nice.... (only
Submitted by linkmaster6 on Wed, 04/08/2009 - 4:43am

Must be nice.... (only country dial up available here)

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Is it just me or 100Mbps
Submitted by majorsuave on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 5:42pm

Is it just me or 100Mbps will sound kinda slow in 8 years?

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What's the point if no one
Submitted by I Jedi on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 11:07am

What's the point if no one can visit anything...

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=c)
Submitted by jvc08 on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 1:17am

what you talking about?

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that's what I was thinking
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 1:29pm

that's what I was thinking

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And the United States plans
Submitted by dag1992 on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 11:05am

And the United States plans to have 90% with broaband in general never... in a country where the cable companies rather make more money than progress, change is needed.

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Wow
Submitted by DBsantos77 on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 11:02am

12 MBPS on satellite doesn;t sound too bad, I wonder how much though?

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