The Impact of Broadband Access on Digital Divide: An Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of broadband access, focusing on its global impact and the resulting digital divide. It examines initiatives taken by various countries, including China, the United States, Singapore, and Australia, to improve broadband infrastructure and increase internet access. The report delves into the specifics of the Australian National Broadband Plan (nbn), its objectives, and the challenges it faces, particularly in addressing the digital divide. It highlights the disparities in internet access between urban and rural areas, as well as the impact of socioeconomic factors on digital inclusion. The report also identifies countries with the lowest internet access rates and explores the patterns observed in these areas. Furthermore, it discusses the benefits of high-speed broadband connectivity, such as faster communication, improved online services, and increased economic productivity. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of specific steps to eliminate these problems and help spread the broadband access across the countries.

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Introduction
The improvement of the internet has helped to improvise the connectivity for the users.
The country where the internet was first invented was United States. The main aim of this article
is to analyze the revolution of internet using the broadband access and its impacts on the people.
Discussion
Facts for discussion:
 Initiatives taken by the National Broadband Infrastructure.
 Plans of Australian National Broadband Plan.
 Digital Divide in Australia
 Countries with lowest broadband rate
 Benefits of high speed broadband connection.
Analysis of the discussion points:
Initiatives taken by the National Broadband Infrastructure: Specific steps has been taken by
then national broadband board of different countries. These are-
 Focusing on the policy barriers: There are primary rules and regulations regarding the
broadband policies in most of the countries. The regulation and policies are reviewed in
order to check their justification for the development of the broadband. In case, if there
are certain changes are needed, the initiatives for the change are taken into order.
 Creating the environment for the private investment in the development of the broadband
access: Many countries has developed and improvised the broadband network with the

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collaboration of the private sectors. The private sector investment has enable the
implementation of the latest technologies in the infrastructure.
 Developing the communication standard: In order to monitor and control over the
broadband infrastructure and its access, certain rules and regulations has been developed
in most of the countries. Those rules and regulations are created by the government of
those countries.
Various countries and their initiatives for spreading the broadband access:
 China: In order to develop the broadband infrastructure China has spent $320 Bn in 5
years. The developed infrastructure is able to give the broadband access at a speed of
50Mbps downloading speed in the urban areas and for the rural areas the speed is 12
Mbps.
 United States: Connect America Fund II has been initiated for the development of the
broadband access in the United States of America. The required network structure for the
desirable broadband connection has already been developed in the country. USD 70-75
has been granted for the modification and improvisation of the current infrastructure.
 Singapore: In order to improvise and modify the network infrastructure , OpenNet has
been developed na dis funded by the government. SGD 750 has been allocated for this
program. The merging of the infrastructure provider and the service provider has
developed the increased growth of the broadband access across the country.
 Australia: The initiatives taken by the government of the Australia for the spreading of
the broadband is nbn. The investment of AUD 41Bn has been made for this program. The
allotted time period for this program is 7 years. The target is to make the download speed
of 100Mbps.

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Current Status of Australian National Broadband Plan:
Australian National Broadband plan was initiated in 2009. The main objective of this
plan is to provide the access of the broadband to all the people across the country in an
affordable cost [5]. Nbn Australia provides service to the users through local network and
with the collaboration with retail phones and internet providers. The objective of the nbn was
modified in 2016. The Commonwealth of Australia is the owner of nbn. Nbn aims to provide
sustainable broadband service to the users.
Important factors for the broadband service in Australia:
The nbn has announced to increase the number of satellite so that the broadband
communication can be improved [1]. The announcement was made on 6th of February. The
targeted speed of the wireless communication is up to 25/5 Mbps downstream/upstream. At
first nbn allotted the FTTP of 90% of population. It has increased to 93% of population at
present time.
Initiatives like ‘Universal Service Obligation’ are generated for providing the broadband
services to the families with lower income.
Australia and Digital Divide:
Digital divide defines the inequality of the access of the ICT and information technology
on the basis of social and economical status [4]. Digital divide in Australia is narrowing
down, however, it is getting deeper. It has been found out that about three million of
Australian cannot access the internet and the broadband. These tree millions of Australians
are depriving from the usage of advanced technologies in every aspects of life. The main aim

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of the government is to improvise the current infrastructure so that digital divide can be
reduced.
The affected segment of digital divide:
The most affected segment of the digital divide is the people from rural area of Australia.
It has been seen that the 94% of the people of the urban area of the Australia enjoy the
broadband access, whereas only 82% of the rural area people access the internet [2]. The
digital divide has been evaluated from the economic aspect. The families with lower income
have limited access to the broadband. Only 44% of the families with the poor economic
condition have the access to tablet, whereas 87% of the families with higher income uses
tablet and other electronic gadgets [6]. Some other factors such as education and work from
home have some effect on the digital divide.
Ways to reduce the effect of digital divide:
Specific steps can be taken to mitigate the effect of digital divide:
 Spreading the education among the people: Education will open up the chances for
people to get the jobs, which will improve the financial condition of the people [7].
Improvement of the financial condition will encourage people to use the broadband .
 Improvement of the network infrastructure: The improvement of the infrastructure
will help to give more coverage of area for broadband access [8]. This will help the
broadband access in the rural area of Australia.
Countries with lower internet access:
Eritreans (Africa)

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Myanmar
Timor-Leste (Island at North Australia)
These are the three countries and the area with lowest internet access. In the region wise
aspect, Africa is the region in the world with the lowest internet access rate.
Patterns observe in the areas with the lowest internet access rate:
It has been seen the areas with lower internet access is hard to reach. In some countries,
the strict regulations of the government play as a constraints in spreading the internet access. In
most cases, the awareness among the people and lack of education influence the digital divide.
Benefits of the high broadband connectivity:
There are certain advantages of the high speed broadband access:
 The communication becomes faster.
 The improvement and the spread of online services occurs.
 It increases the productivity of the system and also provides cost effective solutions.
 Helps to increase the growth of e-commerce.
 Different online service like e-governance and e-health can be generated effectively.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the growth of the broadband access is
dependent on the certain factors. These factors are also causes the digital divide. There are some
countries where digital divide is prominent whereas, in some countries internet access rate is

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low. Taking some specific steps can eliminate these problems and can help to spread the
broadband access across the countries.
References

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