Austrailia’s The Age reviews ten cities around the world that have great broadband. The top 10 digital cities were ranked according to Broadband speed, cost and availability, Wireless internet access, Technology adoption, Government support for technology, Education and technology culture and Future potential.
- Seoul, Korea
- Singapore
- Tokyo
- Hong Kong
- Stockholm
- San Francisco and Silicon Valley
- Tallinn, Estonia
- New York
- Beijing
- New Songdo City, Korea
The list is somewhat arbitrary. For example, Taipai’s Wi-Fi system has grown rapidly to become the world’s largest, with more than 4,200 antennas and counting. Philadelphia, and State-wide wireless projects in the U.S. aren’t mentioned either, while New York and Beijing aren’t especially known as broadband leaders. A more rigorous analysis is available at Intelligent Communities of the Year and the Digital City Awards.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday announced a $2 billion dollar (1.68 billion US) plan to provide broadband access across the vast country. The Australian offshoot of Singapore telco Singtel, had been awarded a 958-million-dollar contract.
The joint venture, known as OPEL, will contribute a further 900 million US dollars to provide broadband of at least 12 megabits per second by June 2009. The Optus-Elders consortium (OPEL) will reach all states and territories and use optical fiber and WiMAX. A website, broadbandnow.gov.au, will be launched on 1 July to provide information to new users about how to access broadband,
“What we have announced today is a plan that will deliver to 99 percent of the Australian population very fast and affordable broadband in just two years’ time,” Howard said.
Michael Malone, Managing Director of iiNet, the largest broadband ISP behind Optus and Telstra, responded positively to the plan.
“While we’d like to see a lot more information, the initial overview sounds great. The “right” solution for retail high speed broadband is fixed line (ADSL or cable) where that is practical, wireless for the bulk of the larger centres, and satellite for the really remote places.
Related DailyWireless articles include; Wireless Houston: Size Queen?, National Broadband Wireless Projects, The World’s Largest WiFi Cloud, State-wide Wireless Broadband Access, South Carolina Statewide Wireless, Vermont Statewide Wireless, Rhode Island Statewide Wireless, Wireless SiValley: Mix & Match, Ten Cities Under Colorado Cloud, Washington’s 1500mi Cloud, Sacramento Regional Cloud, Cloud for Silicon Valley, Intelligent Communities of the Year, St. Louis County Cloud, Airspan WiMAXes Australia, Singapore Cloud and Intelligent Nation.
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