[Linux-aus] Political Recognition for Technology in Australia - was Re: Seeking feedback - EFA Citizens Not Suspects campaign

[John Mann]

Hi,

On 28 June 2013 02:47, Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 27 Jun 2013, Russell Coker wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> >
> >> Yes, the Government lavishes itself with multi-billion $ NBN that works
> >> out per household to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars per install (if
> >> not more).
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Broadband_Network
> >
> > Yes the NBN is expensive, but let's not exaggerate.  The cost of the NBN
> is
> > listed as $37,400,000,000.  If it was to cost $100K per installation
> then that
> > would mean that there could only be 374,000 installations.  According to
> > Wikipedia 24,000 customer services were active late last year - that
> made it
> > more than $100K per installation then but they continue to install at
> more
> > homes.
> >
>
> I think that the reference to cost per household, is a bit hairy, as the
> NBN is supposedly intended to serve businesses also, and, not just
> households. Or, so I believe.
>
> Perhaps, a number of intended nodes (customers (?) ) would be a more
> useful number, than a number of households.
>
> Does anyone know how many households exist in Australia, anyway?
>
> In the meantime, using a (rough, and, not very accurate) figure of a
> population of about 20 million, then, the listed cost cited above, of
> $37400000000, gives about (3.7x10E10 / 2x10E7) $1800 per person.
>
> If a population figure of 30 million is used, then it is still about
> $1200 per person, of the population, which, to me, anyway, is alot of
> money.
>

$1200 per person is not a lot of money as an investment in long-term
infrastructure
that is expected to last 20+ years.