Tasmania ramps up NBN awareness

The Tasmanian Government has joined forces with TiVo licencee, Hybrid Television Services, to kickstart the Hybrid SmartStreet project in Tasmania and promote the benefits of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Participants of the research project must reside in an existing fibre-connected home on the TasCOLT network, which is serviced by TasTel Community Telco. Volunteers will receive a TiVo media unit and will be able to access broadband movies and TV services for 12 months.

According to Hybrid TV, SmartStreet will demonstrate the value of converged digital broadcasting through the Internet and data collected from this research will provide an understanding of broadcast television behaviour.

The initiative is intended to raise awareness for the $43 billion NBN. In a recent poll conducted by analyst group, Compare Broadband, 96 per cent of the 577 voters said the Federal Government had not done enough to inform Australians about the NBN and its potential.

“Many people do not understand what the NBN is – let alone the impact it will have in our own home,” Hybrid TV CEO, Robbee Minicola, said in a statement. “Our aim is to demystify what the NBN means, remove technological jargon from the equation and enable Australians to understand how a product such as a TiVo can be turbo-charged by an Internet speed up to 200 times faster than the average Internet connection.”

Tasmanian Premier, David Bartlett, said in a statement the project was another important step in making Tasmania the most connected place on the planet by 2014.

The state is set to become the launching pad for the NBN with the optic fibre rollout set to commence this month. Several ISPs have already flagged their involvement including iiNet, which announced plans to migrate Tasmanian customers over to the network by mid 2010.

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