Gridlock 2020

The issue of Australia's digital economy has dropped to second place - from bottom - on the discussion guide for the forthcoming Australia 2020 Summit, B&T reports (April 11).

This doesn't bode well for a bright digital future. But, in the light of the current debacle in the UK over the BBC iPlayer's bringing broadband networks to their knees, it seems particularly shortsighted.

The iPlayer lets users download or stream TV programmes to a computer, a Wii, even an iPhone. Such is its popularity with users that broadband networks are straining under the pressure and network upgrades are needed.

Now there's a lot of argy-bargy between the BBC and ISP providers, with the government caught in the middle, over who should pay for the bandwidth improvements. It's a debate to the tune of £830m - the estimated cost, according to regulator Ofcom, of providing the extra capacity to accommodate online video services.

Unless the situation is resolved, some analysts, including US-based Nemertes Research, predict net gridlock by 2010.

Now, let's come back to the issue of Australia's digital economy. As consumers enjoy more bandwidth bustin' on-demand services (with less bandwidth available to them than UK consumers currently have), it looks like 'Australia 2020 Summit' is a wildly optimistic title - we could be heading for meltdown well before then.