US net pioneer hails Australian govt’s ‘breathtaking’ broadband network

Call him Kevin Rudd’s $43billion man. Larry Smarr, a 60-year-old US physicist and one of the pioneers of the internet, says the Rudd Government’s announcement last month of a new broadband network is “breathtaking” and puts Australia at the forefront of government policy around the world embracing “intelligent infrastructure”, reports The Australian.He should know. It was Professor Smarr’s advocacy, publicly and privately, in meetings with Mr Rudd and other ministers over the past 18 months, that helped convince the Rudd Government to announce its $43billion national broadband plan.To read this report in The Australian in full, see:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25504325-5018015,00.htmlAlso see:Telstra ‘will be involved with NBN’
Two of the pivotal figures in persuading the Federal Government to build the national broadband network have said the network will not be rolled out unless Telstra is involved.Professor Rod Tucker and Professor Reg Coutts were part of the six-person expert panel that advised Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to reject the four national bids for the tender and instead take a majority share in a new $43 billion network.
www.businessday.com.au/business/telstra-will-be-involved-with-nbn-20090518-bcum.html