As part of its election commitments, Labor has pledged to undo what it says is the mess Australia's National Broadband Network has become.
"In 2013, Malcolm Turnbull scrapped Labor’s world class fibre-to-the-premises NBN," says a policy summary. " Instead the Liberals are building a slower, second-rate copper NBN that will leave Australia behind and hamstring our economy into the future."
The summary points out Australia's rankings for broadband speed have continued to plummet; leaving us in the dust of much of the world.
The party says that if elected, it will put the brakes on the rollout of fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) once the current pipeline of construction work is complete; switching to fibre to the premises (FTTP) as originally envisioned.
That will still leave many Australians stuck with access the Internet via FTTN; so Labor plans to commission Infrastructure Australia to come up with a plan outline how those with "second-rate" broadband can be transitioned to fibre-to-the-premises.
Labor claims that under its plan, FTTP broadband connections will reach ~ 39 per cent of homes and businesses by 2020 (pre-retrofit works); compared to ~ 20 per cent under the Coalition; at a maximum cost of $1 billion more.
Wholesale prices under Labor's NBN will remain unchanged, but minimum taxpayer return will increase from 2.7 per cent under the Coalition to 3.9 per cent under Labor.
The party says its plan will also translate to more jobs.
"Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate copper NBN is holding Australia back. Our competitiveness as a nation will suffer as the Liberals continue to roll out last century’s technology, and opportunities for Australian enterprise and innovation will be lost to overseas markets – and the jobs will follow."
Labor's plan for a reinvigorated NBN and scathing assessment of the NBN rollout can be viewed here (PDF).
It's not surprising that Federal Minister for Communications, Mitch Fifield, wasn't particularly receptive to Labor's broadband plan; stating it was deceitful.
"Australians will have to wait longer for the NBN and pay more," he said.
" Under a Labor government, two million Australians will have to wait at least two years more to get the NBN and at $8 billion additional cost compared to the Coalition's plan."
Mr. Fifield said the NBN’s corporate plan states NBN Co. are on track to deliver the NBN at $49 billion. Liberal costings originally put the rollout at costing between $46 to $56 billion.
Promises made in the heat of battle aren't always fulfilled. Thankfully for Australia, there are now cheaper and faster choices beginning to emerge for households and businesses wanting super-fast broadband plans that don't require the NBN; using a proven mix of fibre broadband and fixed wireless technology.
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