Australia - National Broadband Network - NBN Co 2.0

Synopsis

When in opposition the Coalition parties initially indicated they would kill the NBN when they came to power. Political reality made them change their position from ‘kill it’ to a ‘cheaper and faster’ solution. The emphasis would change from FttP to FttN, the HFC network would be used and MDUs would be serviced by a VDSL vectoring technology. They also announced a number of reviews which would be independent and technology-neutral. However the reviews basically delivered the outcome that the parties had predicted, except that the ‘cheaper and faster’ promise was abandoned. Instead of $29bn it would now cost $41bn and the delivery date of 2016 for their fast broadband service changed to a timeframe that now goes up to 2019.

Leaving the predetermined technological choices aside, the new government has now created a far more complex rollout plan, which will be more difficult to execute and which will also have significant unknown costs attached to it.

But perhaps the most critical feature of the plan is that it will fail to deliver a ubiquitous broadband network to Australia, and such an infrastructure is crucial if nationwide digital productivity is to be achieved and consistent national healthcare and educational services are to be delivered.