Beyond NBN: Improving digital inclusion through a National Digital Communications Strategy

  • De Percy, M. (Speaker)
  • Nitya Reddy (Speaker)
  • Leith Campbell (Speaker)

Activity: Talk or presentationInvited talk

Description

Beyond NBN — new research suggests that advancing Australia’s digital economy and improving digital inclusion needs to start with a National Digital Communications Strategy led by the Federal Government

The research examined lessons from other developed nations — the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Republic of Korea — which indicate that user-focused or demand-side policies are key to an accessible and inclusive Australian digital communications strategy.

The presenters explain how COVID-19 restrictions exposed the importance of digital inclusion and demand-side policies, for example, enabling vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, to develop digital literacy skills to utilise online services, when in-person services were no longer an option.

The findings support existing policies including, for example, Service NSW-assisted digital services in shopfronts and elsewhere, and digital classrooms in Seoul Citizens Hall — a multipurpose space in the South Korean capital.

The research determines that the ongoing enhancement and usage of the National Broadband Network needs to be drawn into a broader policy, where broadband services are part of a digital communications ‘ecosystem’, led by the Federal Government, but integrated with the State Governments as social policy.

This presentation is an outcome of a TelSoc internship project at the University of Canberra. A paper on the subject was published in the last issue of the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy (here).
Period21 Feb 2023
Held atTelSoc (Telecommunications Association), Australia
Degree of RecognitionNational