Huawei backs NBN committee report

Huawei Australia has backed a new report on the role and potential of the NBN.

The House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications NBN Report recently made a number of recommendations on the Government’s broadband initiatives, with Huawei calling the report a positive outcome for digital inclusion.

Huawei Australia corporate and public affairs director, Jeremy Mitchell, said the report underscores the debate must progress beyond ‘pits and pipes’ and on to what the community can do with high-speed broadband, such as building a networked societyk.

“High-speed broadband will re-shape Government services, healthcare, education, infrastructure, the environment, and even communities themselves – we’ve seen it first-hand where we are rolling out fibre networks in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, the UAE, and Brunei,” he said. The release of the report follows the National Digital Inclusion Summit, hosted by Huawei and its partners - the Australian Information Industry Association, Community Sector Banking and Viocorp.

Following the summit, Huawei made a submission to the Committee, mentioning the findings of Dr. Tim Williams, author of Connecting Communities: the impact of Broadband in the UK and its implications for Australia.

It stated: "In a report commissioned by Huawei, British researcher, Dr Tim Williams, found that ubiquitous fast broadband can have a major impact in improving community connectedness. However, he cautioned that building the network alone would not be enough: ‘The real challenge of broadband in Britain and Australia is not just to enable access. It is to ensure use by people and communities of all kinds. It is to see the objective as not just the building of a technical network but the creation of a ‘networked society’ with all the benefits of online participation for all which flow from it.’" Dr. Williams will produce further proposals based on outcomes of the summit to help community and not-for-profit organisations embrace the benefits of high-speed broadband.

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