NBN could revolutionise business: Conroy

Australia is lagging behind other developed countries in harnessing the internet for business and needs to catch up, the federal government says.

Businesses must change their attitudes about people working from home and use the internet to connect employees through "telework", the minister for broadband and communications Stephen Conroy said.

"In Australia the number of people with an arrangement with their employer to work from home has been low by international standards," Senator Conroy said at a Telework Forum in Sydney on Tuesday.

"According to the ABS, just six per cent of employers from Australia have reported having any kind of telework arrangement with their employer.

"In the USA 10 per cent of USA employees telework at least one day a month and eight European Union countries reported that more than 10 per cent of workers involved in telework a quarter of the time or more and that was in 2005."

Senator Conroy continued his sell of National Broadband Network (NBN), promising the high speed connections would "potentially revolutionise" business.

By connecting workers from home, employers could tap into skilled workers from across the country, improve work life balance and potentially reduce absenteeism, he said.

"The delivery of reliable high speed broadband to every Australian premise will potentially revolutionise how we will work.

"It promises to transform who is able to work, when you can work, where you can work and how you can work."

The comments follow the launch of Deloitte Access Economics' report that the internet made a direct contribution to the Australian economy of $50 billion, which is almost on par with that of the retail sector or Australia's iron ore exports.

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