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The
Outback Digital Network (ODN)
Funding for the ODN is provided through the Federal
Government's Networking the Nation/Regional Telecommunications
Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) project.
The
Outback Digital Network is a project, and initiative,
that was started by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities in remote areas themselves, recognising
the growing need for communication and the importance
of it. The reach of the project is from basically Broome
to Darwin along the Top End, and it is to provide telecommunications
infrastructure and to link into existing telecommunication
infrastructure so that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people themselves can establish communications
links and communications services directly appropriate
to themselves. So, not a broad brush approach from some
far away distant area, we're talking about the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people determining their
own future and obviously the ODN is delighted with the
opportunity being provided by the RTIF. http://www.odn.net.au/press_conf_1.html
Technological
developments for the future
The year 2000 saw the introduction of a pilot to deliver
a normal telephone service over a Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA) mobile phone network on King Island.
The
innovative technology that enables a normal telephone
to work off the CDMA mobile network, instead of the
normal fixed network, is called Wireless Local Loop
(WLL). WLL supports phone, fax, data and the Internet.
(Telstra, 2000: 8)
With
CDMA WLL, there's no need to install and maintain
an expensive cable network as no lead-ins are required
into customers' homes. Because it is wireless, there's
no problem of cable breaks or disruptions caused by
the harsh Australian environment, and no interference
from facilities such as electric fences. And, while
WLL operates off the CDMA mobile network, customers
use a normal phone and keep their fixed line phone
number.
Customers
simply use their existing home telephone and Telstra
supplies a terminal unit, about the size of a video
cassette, to connect them to the network. (Telstra,
2000: 9)
Activity
Hypothesise how CDMA WLL technology could impact on
both the Top End radio network and the telecommunications
network.
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