Father of the Internet Envious of Australia

Vint Cerf, the man often called the father of the Internet, has praised the Australian government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) plans.

Appearing via videolink at the the Realising our Broadband Future Summit in Sydney, Cert said “Personally, I envy every single Aussie that is going to benefit from this national scale of investment,”

The NBN is a planned Fibre to the Home, Open Access Network which promises to deliver 100Mb/s connection speeds to at least 90% of Australia’s population.

The Australian Government has said they are willing to provide an initial cash injection of AUD$43 Billion (approx.US$40 Billion) to partner with a private sector organisation to get the project over the line.

As reported by ComputerWorld, Cerf started his talk with glowing praise of the project:

“Let me start out by saying to you that I hope you all appreciate the stunning impact that your decision to build this broadband system on a national scale is having,”

“The architecture of the Sydney Opera House has become an icon of Australia. And I have to tell you that this decision — to build the broadband network — is becoming an icon in the IT community.

The praise must be welcome relief for the Government who have been facing criticism for everything from the cost of the project to Australian tax-payers to the technology that will be used.

Having someone with the credibility of Cerf give support to both the technology and the economic development the NBN will enable will give Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, some much needed material for future debates.

Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald