Despite the high profile political tussle over the National Broadband Network (NBN), a recent poll shows that while many Australians don't support either party's roll-out plan, they do want faster broadband.
The poll conducted by Auspoll, suggests that 56-percent of Aussies think a fast, national network is important for Australia's future and will facilitate big changes in how we work and in essential public services.
But when asked whether they prefer Labor's $46-million plan or the Liberals $30-million plan, 46-percent of respondents said they did not support either, or did not have an opinion. A third of respondents support Labor's more expensive plan, while 21-percent prefer the Coalition's.
Future is bright
Perhaps the best news for the NBN is that Australians see the potential for the network beyond movies and video games. In fact, the largest portion of the poll's respondents supporting the NBN were people aged 55-64 years, of whom 60-percent supported Labor's faster broadband option.
Healthcare is seen as the number one industry to benefit from the high-speed network, with nearly three-quarters of those polled envisaging big changes for doctors and hospitals. Remote education is also seen as another essential public service that will get a boost from the NBN.
The Labor and Liberal plans for the NBN differ on whether fibre optic cabling is installed up to the communications node, shared by many users, or up to individual homes. Labor supports the latter, hence the higher cost of its plan and the faster speed of its proposed network.
