Governments are subsidizing millions and billions of dollars for the deployment of fiber up to the home, aka, FTTH. Such subsidies are based on the premise that fiber to the home brings substantial externalities. But Charles Kenny and his brother Robert Kenny claim that basic broadband has contributed significantly to economic growth is decidedly mixed, and points to low returns for (expensive) superfast upgrades. They think fiber to the businesses and government outfits make more sense than FTTH. The Kenny brothers accuse that the benefits of fiber have been considerably overstated while the other infrastructure remains ignored. Therefore, they have urged the governments to strongly reconsider subsidizing the FTTH initiatives. Read the report and the debate here.
Workshop: Digital Tools for Strengthening Public Discourse
Today, LIRNEasia hosted a workshop to launch digital tools created by Watchdog Sri Lanka, funded by GIZ’s Strengthening Social Cohesion and Peace in Sri Lanka (SCOPE) programme. Researchers, practitioners, activists and journalists attended to learn about these tools, and how they can potentially help them in their own lines of work.
1 Comment
Raqueeb Hassan
Thank you for heating up the debate.
Well, why not?
Paying for transit shouldn’t be business anymore. The government should blow up the connectivity, put all service delivery(s) on net. Paying for connectivity will extinct as charging mechanism on contents is in place and there the net neutrality comes in.
As Macquarie Telecom reported,
Governments dealing with NBNs will be credited for drawing up the big picture. It’s long drawn process, true! Connect homes, cost will be reduced drastically when citizens will know – for every problem, where to turn to?
A single citizen portal, with a reliable connectivity of fiber.