TasICT, The Peak Industry Body for the Information, Communication and Technology sector is urging all industry groups to join its push for the Federal and State Governments to future proof the connectivity of Tasmania.
This week’s disruption to communication services underlines the need for the state’s digital infrastructure to have more resilience, and the issue was raised by TasICT back in 2017 when a plan for a spur from SubPartners was first proposed.
While TasICT provided in-principle support to that initiative five years ago according to Chief Executive Officer Steve Adermann, the proposal was ultimately retracted by the proponent.
“It’s great that Bevan Slattery has engaged the Federal & State Governments with his HyperOne ‘digital backbone’ project, and with the contribution of some Federal funding it would be just the kind of back up Tasmania needs. It’s common knowledge the Marinus link will include additional fibre links when it comes online, but a more immediate solution is urgently required,” said Mr Adermann.
“TasICT encourages all industry groups to get behind the push for more digital infrastructure investment. As demonstrated by the outage, all industries were adversely affected because all businesses are digital businesses. Tourism, hospitality, retail – the lot”
“In addition to more resilience in the digital communications network, I believe that existing industry partners may be willing to co-contribute with Government to improve the infrastructure to and within the state” Mr Adermann added.