Internet..marginal propensity to consume what?
Merry Christmas everybody!! No political correctness here!
I was just sitting here watching the news and heard how, at Christmas, tech is the huge driver of internet usage.
Fair call! It actually is very important.
I then heard a classic techno-person (you know the type...jeans, t-shirt, unkempt hair... fan boy for free internet for everybody, anything but fibre to you ear is unacceptable blah blah blah) tell us that we therefore need super fast internet now.
Ok, fair enough.
We do all want super fast internet. Of course we do.
Business is a no-brainer. But so do consumers.
And more and more it is really important to us. For everyday things. The things that weren't everyday that long ago. and more for interaction beyond social texting, for video, and entertainment and health.
Now, I can't admit I'm a great fan-boy admirer. I'm not someone who respects people for getting on a band wagon for the sake of, well, the band-wagon. Political correctness free zone here.
So here's my comment.
Yes people want super fast internet.
BUT....are they prepared to PAY for it?
Yes, I mean pull out cold hard cash and put it on the table like they do for their weekly groceries and extravagant power bills. And yes for their home mortgages.
Are they?
I reckon not.
I reckon people are prepared to continue to pay what they pay for communications but expect more for the same price.
That's an interesting economic issue as super-fast stuff requires massive capital investment (yes, A$76m for the NBN if I remember the non-political real cost from the strategic review of the NBN I undertook). And someone needs to pay for that.
I did an economics major many years ago...I reckon marginal propensity to consume is something that the fan-boys need to consider.
The fastest network in the world with inter-galactic speeds to play games with scratchy beards and sodas is great.
But if the majority aren't prepared to pay more - they want more for the same price.
A politically incorrect perspective is needed.
Now, I've got to go back to big bash cricket and that wonderful Christian tradition of Christmas.
Merry Christmas peeps!
Best selling author - Helping you to transform the way you sell to grow revenue at higher margins, and drive better customer outcomes.
7yI hope your receiving high definition cricket through fast internet Tim Ebbeck. Wishing you a great 2017.
Strategic Account Manager at Vectra Corporation
7yFantastic commentary and Merry Christmas to you.
Director of Technology and Performance at The Merchantwise Group
7yHi Tim, Looking forward to that Boxing Day Grin :) My Bachelor of Economics may be a bit rusty, but whenever I've used MPC models it's to justify large government expenditure on infrastructure precisely because no individuals or business would be prepared to pay for it themselves. No-one would pay to build the harbour bridge, but add together all societies MPC for harbour crossings and it pays for itself and throw in a tunnel while you're at it. This is how infrastructure investment works in-fact to maximise the NBN return based on society MPC you give it away for free. There's a radical thought, how much live cricket would you stream then? Have a great Christmas!
CTO Internet 2.0 | Director & Boardmember (US) | Cybersecurity & Technology Expert | Machine Learning & Neural Network Specialist | Financial Institutions & Critical Infrastructure | Solution Architect | CISSP ☕
7yExcellent post! Looking forward to reading more from you.
National Account Manager - Former Teacher, IT Manager, ICT Director and National Education Advisor
7yNice share Tim ... entertaining comment Stuart ... just one correction ... shouldn't that be 'b' for billion? Now that's a big number!