Paul Budde

Paul Budde specialises in the strategic planning of government and business innovation and transformation around the digital, sharing and interconnected economy.

Paul's recent articles

The future of NBN - Privatisation in a changing market landscape

The future of NBN - Privatisation in a changing market landscape

This week, the government announced its intention to introduce new legislation that would keep the National Broadband Network (NBN) in public hands, reinforcing its election promise.

What have we learned from last year’s Optus outage?

What have we learned from last year’s Optus outage?

Interestingly I started writing this article on the Friday afternoon the global CrowdStrike outage occurred. It is amazing to reflect on the similarities between the two outages. Both occurred because of a rogue software update and both showing our lack of resilience and ICT diversity. Issues like this need to be addressed in our underlying economic system, where low costs and short-term profits are prioritised over what are now becoming national and international existential issues.

Optus outage: We cant afford to have a single point of failure in our telecoms system

Optus outage: We cant afford to have a single point of failure in our telecoms system

The recent Optus outage cannot be considered a rare occasion. Over the last few years, we have witnessed several major outages across the telecoms networks, making it imperative for us to prepare ourselves for such events. We must address Telecom system vulnerabilities to prevent widespread outages.

NBN write-down confirms its national importance and Coalition failure

NBN write-down confirms its national importance and Coalition failure

The previous Coalition Government under the Minister for Communication Malcolm Turnbull promised: a cheaper, good quality NBN, faster delivered. It failed on all counts.

Money and policy are the keys to elevate Australia into top broadband league

Money and policy are the keys to elevate Australia into top broadband league

It seems Labor has bitten the bullet and decided that to have an overall better quality NBN, more money is needed to upgrade the fibre to the node to full fibre.

PAUL BUDDE. Facebook is set to fail (Paul Budde Consultancy).

With a tumbling share price and increased pressure from governments across the world Facebook will have to make major changes quickly if the company is to survive.

PAUL BUDDE. National Party has failed regional Australia on broadband -- Repost from 1 September 2018

It is still a battle to extend the perception of the importance of high-speed broadband beyond fast access to the internet or to Netflix.

PAUL BUDDE. The departure of Bill Morrow whats next?

In the running up of the development of the NBN in the years between 2007 and 2009 some 400 people from the industry were involved in providing input into the design of this new infrastructure, they included senior engineers of all the major telcos as well as experts in e-health, education, smart grids and the digital economy. The outcome was widespread support for a nationwide fiber-to-the-home network which was furthermore supported by between 70-80% of both the voters and the business community. The project showed a vision of the telecoms and digital future for the country and also took the...

PAUL BUDDE. And so the NBN blame game starts

It has taken fouryears for the government and the nbn company to finally admit what many people have been warning for since the very beginning of the change in NBN plans from FttH (fibre to the home) to FttN (fibre to the node).

PAUL BUDDE. The future NBN might look rather different.

Some of the new technologies that are now arriving on the horizon could well mean that a different NBN scenario might unfold a merging between fixed and wireless broadband.

PAUL BUDDE. Smart energy or tilting at windmills

After more than 15 years of industry initiatives aimed at smart energy, the government has successfully frustrated and/or stopped such initiatives and is actively working against the solutions preferred by the industry (smart grids, gas, renewables, batteries).

PAUL BUDDE. Digital media and media diversity

The changes recently proposed to the Broadcasting Act will allow for a further concentration of media power in Australia.

PAUL BUDDE. Upgrading the NBN with G.fast has its limitations

Quite coincidentally, at the same time that G.fast is being discussed in Australia a similar discussion is taking place in the USA; and there is doubt there too about the contribution that G.fast can make to improve the performance of the faltering broadband systems in both countries.

PAUL BUDDE. The end of the Foxtel wars

The announcement of the proposed merger of Foxtel with Fox Sport Australia, combined with Telstras agreement to dilute its shareholding in the pay TV operator, paves the way for the end of the Foxtel war between News Corp Australia (formerly News Limited) and Telstra. The decline in revenue and subscriber numbers will most certainly have provided News Corp with the ammunition it needed to break the stranglehold that Telstra has held over Foxtel for more than 20 years.

PAUL BUDDE. NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government

That the NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government became very clear to me in my discussion with the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network. When addressing the various well-documented problems of the NBN the chair of the committee repeatedly mentioned in defence of the current multi-technology-mix MtM policy that many other counties were also not deploying national FttH.

PAUL BUDDE. Mid-year NBN assessment.

The rollout of the NBN has been gathering pace, but many problems remain. Most of the issues mentioned below have been addressed by me at various Senate Inquiries over the last decade. The fact that they have not been addressed and/or resolved is an indication that politicians have so far failed to deal with them.

PAUL BUDDE. The role of the NBN in the development of 5G

From a network efficiency point of view fibre-based infrastructure will always win over wireless. ... Dont expect a rapid development of 5G services for the mass market. 5G will most likely be installed in pockets where there is a clear business case (for a premium service) and where there is plenty of fibre available to provide a fast and reliable service.

PAUL BUDDE. Australia needs a proper NBN.

Regrettably it appears that on both counts proper infrastructure plans and the need for affordable services the government and the nbn company, despite spending something like $50 billion, have failed to come up with the right solution for Australia.

PAUL BUDDE. The financial future of NBN?

By late 2016 seven years after the launch of the NBN over two million premises were able to connect to the NBN. So far three-quarters have access to FttH (fibre to the home), the remainder to wireless and satellite networks. The revised rollout of the so-called MTM (multi-technology mix) based on FttN and HFC) only began in earnest in 2016. The NBN company has now fine-tuned its rollout strategy and is set to extend the network by 40,000 premises a week; but from here on FttH will play only a minor role, mainly in greenfield installations.

PAUL BUDDE. The more fibre the better.

You cant turn the clock back and in the case of the NBN that means you cant undo those parts of the Multi-Technology-Mix (MtM) without immediately destructing billion of dollars. While it is a pity that the original plan providing fibre-to-the-home to 93% of the population - cant be continued the next best thing is to deliver fibre to as many premises as possible as that could avoid replacing the MtM in a few years time.

PAUL BUDDE. Can we please cut out the political NBN noise?

With all the kafuffle around the NBN it is very difficult for most people to see the big picture in all of this. The issue has been so incredibly politicised that it is almost impossible to cut through all the noise. I will stick to what I believe is at the heart of the issue the future of our national telecommunications infrastructure. We are spending close to $60 billion dollars on our national digital economy infrastructure and we need to do it wisely and effectively. This has nothing to do with doing things cheaper and faster; as...

Paul Budde. NBN company needs support to pursue FTTdp

In his blog of 5 April, Paul Budde suggests that the NBN company needs support to help it overcome the stumbling block of Malcolm Turnbull who seems unwilling to reconsider the mistake he made on the NBN as Communications Minister in the Abbott government. See Paul Budde's article below. See also link to article http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/nbn-company-needs-support-to-pursue-fttdp/ With the election campaign starting to kick in, it is only a matter of time before the Opposition starts talking about the NBN again. Looking at statements that the Opposition Minister for Communication Jason Clare has made over the last year or...

Paul Budde. Building Australia's white elephant - cheap buy for white knight Telstra.

The following piece by Paul Budde foreshadows a 'white knight' role for Telstra when NBN fails. He says: We are now getting a second-rate network and the first signs from customers, as we heard in a recent Senate Hearing, are not good. This is in line with our assessment. An MtM network, by its very nature a mesh network, will not be able to deliver consistently good quality services to all customers. Telcos and ISPs are not happy with the second-rate system and want to bypass the NBN with their own fibre and mobile services. And there has been dead...

Paul Budde. The NBN - from bad to worse.

I am sure that I am just as frustrated as most Australians especially as month after month, year after year, it becomes clearer that what I, along with others, have been saying since 2011 that a cheaper and faster NBN such as the Coalition Government is trying to install by retrofitting ageing copper networks is not delivering. First of all the minister promised a quick six-month turnaround for the policy change; but now, two years later, apart from pilots, none of the so-called multi-mix technology (basically a retrofit of the old copper and coax cables) has...

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