Broadband connections take centre stage in Australian elections

In the Australian election sluggish broadband speeds have become a key battleground.

The Labor government plans to create a National Broadband Network based on fibre optics at an estimated cost of A$43bn. It would offer download speeds of 100 megabits per second that would reach 93% of Australian homes and premises.

The opposition is suggesting a cheaper alternative: a A$6.3bn network, based on upgrading existing copper networks. It would reach 97% of the population, be rolled out sooner, but the broadband speeds would be slower - a minimum of 12 megabits per second.

The opposition claims the National Broadband Network will be a "great big white elephant". The government claims the opposition is offering Australians a "second-class" broadband network, which will leave the country in the "digital dark ages".

As far as Spellzone is concerned 12 megabits is plenty both for our course and for most educational use, in fact for almost all internet use it is fine. I guess the argument is more about the future of the internet in Australia but still I would imagine 12 megabits will remain fine for most users for quite a few years. As with all elections the argument becomes polarised, perhaps the best solution is to go with the cheap option, especially in the current economic climate and then gradually move to the fibre optics solution over a period of time - isn't that happening in the UK? Or does the installation of fibre optics take so long that the job needs to be started well in advance of it being operational?