A snapshot of high-speed broadband responses at local government level in Australia: a marriage between federally funded initiatives and locally driven innovations?

Abstract

The introduction of the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2009 posed a range of new questions about the potential of the telecommunication infrastructure for planning at different levels of government. This paper focuses on the local implications of the new infrastructure whether socio-economic, e-governance or otherwise. It reaches out to the NBN early rollout local government authorities (LGAs) and collects empirical data about their responses to the new infrastructure, so far. The findings explore the significant role of the federally funded initiatives aiming at the local level, while shedding light on some of the locally driven, mostly innovative approaches taken by the LGAs. The paper concludes by raising concerns about the current state of uncertainty around the future phases of broadband infrastructure rollout across the nation and its negative impact on strategic approaches in planning for and with telecommunication to capitalise on the digitally driven opportunities.