Analysis, Telecommunications - Friday, February 3, 2012 13:49 - 89 Comments

Correction: NBN prices will not be higher

analysis In several radio interviews this week, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated that the National Broadband Network project would cause consumer broadband prices to rise higher than those currently on the market. However, unfortunately this statement was factually incorrect.

To illustrate why, firstly, let’s go through what Turnbull said. According to transcripts available on Turnbull’s website, Turnbull said the following on 2GB in an interview with Ben Fordham on Wednesday:

” … Australians are waking up to how much this is going to cost them – not just as taxpayers but also it’s going to be more expensive as a consumer. You see this is the penny that hasn’t quite dropped. I think most people recognise that this is a very, very expensive project. But what they haven’t quite – the penny hasn’t quite fully dropped that this is going to be expensive in terms of the usage charges.”

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