In an interesting discussion about the cost of the NBN (National Broadband Network) during the Cebit Australia 2010 some part of the focus kept on the opportunity cost of not building the network, especially in terms of competitive disadvantage that Australia would suffer in comparison to other national economies.
In a similar and more provocative tone (and righteously so), on the other side of the planet, Neelie Kroes at her address at the ‘World Congress on Information Technology‘ in Amsterdam said, in a more intergrated context, pretty much the same thing. Here’s a quote from her speech:
“Some people compare the roll-out of the internet to the way railway and electricity networks have transformed our lives over the last 150 years. They don’t mention that we need to achieve in 10 years with the internet what we have spent 150 years achieving with the other networks. Many European countries still lack High Speed Trains: we are promising high-speed internet by 2020 at the latest. Most people still use incandescent light-bulbs: the equivalent of dial-up internet.
This is one hell of a task. But it is not unrealistic because we each have so much at stake if we get it wrong. Your jobs, your health, your standards of living and your ability to leave the world a better place than when you arrived – this all pivots around maximising the potential of ICT.”
In other words, when someone considers the implementation costs of a National Broadband Plan as a unique weakness then he should also assess whether the threat/cost of being left behind other nations simply outweights these investment costs.
