Five questions about the Coalition’s new NBN policy

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opinion Yesterday Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had a big splash in the media, announcing what many described as a new Coalition National Broadband Network policy. But while it has its merits, we’re not so sure the policy has been fleshed out very far; So here’s five questions for the member for Wentworth to answer at his leisure.

1. How will the Coalition justify stopping the NBN halfway?

By 2013, when the next Federal Election is expected to be held, about 1.7 million premises in Australia will already have NBN fibre rolled out to their door. Mr Turnbull, yesterday you suggested that the Coalition would immediately halt the NBN rollout, and that a mix of technologies (fibre to the node, for example, but also the existing HFC networks and some fibre to the home) will be used instead of the current plan to rollout fibre to the home everywhere.

Do you not believe that this approach will cause public outrage in the community, with some suburbs literally having received fibre to their door and the suburb next door — or even the next street — having missed out? How will the Coalition deal with this expected anger and frustration at such a drastic change in policy from the Government? It is important to bear in mind that the speed difference could be as vast as 1Gbps under NBN fibre, compared with some regions which will remain on ADSL2+, with a maximum speed of 24Mbps. Latency will also vary drastically.

2. How will HFC be delivered to multi-dwelling units?

Currently, both Telstra and Optus run HFC cable down the street where I live. However, when I enquired about getting HFC connected to my apartment, I was informed that it was not possible, because my entire apartment block must be connected at once, and the owner of the block had not given consent.

This is a problem which has been ongoing for a decade now, since the HFC cable networks were initially rolled out. If the HFC cable networks are to remain a core part of an alternative NBN policy, how does the Coalition propose to deal with this situation?

3. How will you increase facilities-based competition?

Mr Turnbull, yesterday you stated that one of the key aims for telecommunications policy should be the stimulation of facilities-based competition in the market. We agree, and this is a weakness of the Government’s existing NBN policy.

However, over the past decade, the main arena for facilities-based competition in Australia’s fixed telecommunications market has been the installation of new ADSL infrastructure by companies like iiNet, Internode and TPG in Telstra’s telephone exchanges, providing an alternate way to access the national copper network. It has been the installation of such hardware which has stimulated the broadband speeds which we enjoy today.

The Coalition is proposing to use a mix of fibre to the node, HFC, fibre to the home and wireless to mix in with Telstra’s existing copper footprint. But given that the extension of fibre to the node stops ADSL infrastructure being rolled out at telephone exchanges, only Telstra and Optus can invest in their HFC networks, and national fibre to the home rollouts are cost-prohibitive for most telcos, how do you plan to stimulate facilities-based competition?

4. How long will a Coalition Government take to re-negotiate the Telstra NBN deal?

Mr Turnbull, yesterday you mentioned that a Coalition Government would enter fresh negotiations with Telstra to re-work the NBN policy.

However, it took the current Government more than 18 months to negotiate the current arrangements with Telstra. Given that a Coalition Government will also halt the NBN while the Productivity Commission conducts a cost/benefit inquiry into Australia’s future broadband needs, how long do you believe it will take to bed down the Coalition’s new broadband approach if it wins Government? In a three-year term, what outcomes can we expect to see from a new Coalition telecommunications policy?

5. What level of political support does your rival NBN policy enjoy?

Mr Turnbull, during the 2010 election, Labor’s NBN policy enjoyed top-level political support from Cabinet and the Prime Minister, and continues to do so, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard frequently mentioning the policy in public and conducting site visits for important NBN launches.

In comparison, the recent Reith and Leeser reports into the Liberal Party’s 2010 election performance stated that the lack of a solid NBN policy was a key factor in losing seats in areas such as Tasmania. In addition, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was not present at the Coalition’s NBN policy launch in 2010, and appears to have given little attention to the portfolio since. Various public statements have indicated Abbott does not understand the telecommunications sector well.

If you were appointed Communications Minister in a Coalition Government, what confidence do you have that you would be able to get Cabinet-level support for the policy you outlined yesterday, and what level of support does your new policy enjoy today within the Opposition?

To sum up: Mr Turnbull, it’s hard to disagree with your high-level statements about stimulating competition in Australia’s telecommunications market and better utilising existing infrastructure. However, the Coalition is facing a Labor NBN policy which has been worked through in exhaustive detail over the past three and a half years. It is now mature and very solidly in place. If the Coalition wishes to put up a substantive rival policy … the Australian electorate, frankly, deserves a lot more detail.

Image credit: Office of Malcolm Turnbull

62 COMMENTS

  1. Send these questions to Turnbull’s electoral office, and watch the copy pasted reply or the reply written by his assistant instead of him.

  2. you’re so pro NBN and anti Coalition Renai, I won’t know why I even bother reading your articles any more.

    #sarcasm

      • I hate the NBN. It sucks because its Labor and they spend money on things. Our bandwidth needs will never increase. I can already watch 240p HD videos on YouTube. Copper and wireless are the future. #sarcasm

        • i love the NBN.

          not only will the NBN cost nothing, it will mint fibre-dollars and pay for itself ten times over.

          it will fund schools, universities, hospitals beds and a massive car-compactor facility (because we will no longer need cars or have to drive anywhere since everything we will ever need will be downloaded over big fat 40Gbit pipes).

          bring it on!

          #sarcasm

  3. *By 2013, when the next Federal Election is expected to be held, about 1.7 million premises in Australia will already have NBN fibre rolled out to their door.*

    of that 1.7mln premises PASSED that you quoted:

    1/ excluding satellite & wireless, actual FIBRE is 1.269mln

    2/ brownfield FTTP is just shy of 1 mln

    3/ actual FTTP premises CONNECTED is a measly 511,000

    4/ actual brownfield FTTP premises CONNECTED is an even smaller 260,000

    *How will the Coalition justify stopping the NBN halfway?*

    the other side of the coin is:

    1/ how can a responsible Government justify the massive cost?

    2/ assuming that the NBN *MUST* go ahead regardless, how can a responsible Government not bring the project ON BUDGET, instead of pretending that NBNco will recover the $50bln cost and taxpayers will not be on the hook somewhere down the line?

    • Wow…assumption city.

      The Coalition love jumping up in parliament and saying that “if we’d won the 2007 election, our broadband plan would already be completed”.

      Assuming the Coalition gets back to power, after they pay all the penalties for broken contracts, and changes in terms to contracts that will exist before 2013, and by the time everything is cost-benefit analysed, renegotiated, redesigned, retendered, and then built, the NBN would have been close to finishing anyway.

      And all the while, nothing would be happening on the ground.

      • *and by the time everything is cost-benefit analysed, renegotiated, redesigned, retendered, and then built*

        that’s inevitable under a future Government (Labor or Liberal) – you can’t make a turkey fly.

        Labor’s approach to this whole NBN affair is akin to getting carried away and planning a massive wedding celebration feast, flying 10,000 guests to a leased private island, putting them up in 5-star suites for a whole week, unlimited food and bar tab, inviting Barbara Streisand to perform….. only to realise that the whole schmoozle cost way more than initially planned and you will be filing for bankruptcy even after selling the wedding gifts to pay off part of the bills.

        *And all the while, nothing would be happening on the ground.*

        look up into the sky – wireless will continue to boom.

        • Firstly, it is Barbra Streisand.

          Secondly, you don’t invite Barbra to perform – you would offer her and/or her charity many millions of dollars & beg her to accept.

          Thirdly, doesn’t matter who is in power they are all liars & cheats doing dodgy deals with each other to satisfy the demands of moronic religious twits, family first idiots or other squeaky wheel minorities.

          I would say the NBN is here to stay so everyone should just suck it up & stop the whingeing. Even if it is money pissed up the wall better a broadband wall than an unfair welfare wall or some other waste of money.

          • +1 Realist… nice work!

            @ Tosh, says – “Labor’s approach to this whole NBN affair is akin to getting carried away and planning a massive wedding celebration feast, flying 10,000 guests to a leased private island, putting them up in 5-star suites for a whole week, unlimited food and bar tab, inviting Barbara Streisand to perform….. only to realise that the whole schmoozle cost way more than initially planned and you will be filing for bankruptcy even after selling the wedding gifts to pay off part of the bills”

            Gee we have another challenger to the 2 stupidest comments yet, as follows…

            One goose said – “Tell you ONE thing… then wrote 1……. 2……. LOL

            And the mother goose, still has the classic, “before roads there were no roads”.

            But you have now rightfully joined your FUD clones, in the top 3, @ #3. But you certainly have the capacity to make #1 and efforts like the above prove this and also prove you are really giving #1 a nudge…!

            Congratulations!

      • @Micheal Wyres

        “and by the time everything is cost-benefit analysed, renegotiated, redesigned, retendered, and then built, the NBN would have been close to finishing anyway”

        Well the HFC is already done remember? the Coalition take onboard what FTTH has already been rolled out and the decide on the balance mix, including FTTN which is much quicker to rollut anyway.

        The predicted finish for the NBN rollut is 2021, so no the current NBN will not be anywhere near ‘close to finishing anyway’ .

          • @Micheal Wyres

            “on an already congested and contended HFC network is a good idea.”

            Oh I see you are also HFC network controller for Optus and Telstra ,you do keep yourself busy, do you have a console for both, how does it work?

          • HFC networks can share 1.5gbs over however many poeple its split over

            NBN’s GPON is a 2.4ghz split over 32 people

            There is nothing stopping people from node splitting on the HFC.

            Both networks architectures are shared, so if you have something against HFC being congested then you can apply the same argument to NBN

        • I love the way alain tells us HFC was/is a failure and he even said he has a cable hanging across the street from him which is good only for the pigeon to rest upon…

          That’s what YOU said eh? Oh ye who is too frightened to answer my truths…

          But at other threads, he is singing HFC’s praises and asking why is such a wonderful competitive network being shut down…!

          Ask the pigeons lainy!

  4. Turnbull previously said (and this may now have changed AGAIN) the opposition would, from Day 1, (presumably halt) and do a CBA of the NBN… which would take 6 months…

    So time is obviously only an issue when in opposition…!

  5. You missed number six:

    6. With your patchwork network plan you say “50mbps to 60mbps downloads” and “5mbps to 10mbps uploads” What percentage will be able to get the “very high speeds” of 10mbps and are you planing future costly upgrades to this patchwork network so people can make better use of current and future applications that require faster upload speeds?

  6. “By 2013, when the next Federal Election is expected to be held, about 1.7 million premises in Australia will already have NBN fibre rolled out to their door.”

    That’s incorrect, by June 2013 these are the predicted premises passed figures from the NBN Business Plan, FTTP Brownfields 805,000, FTTP Greenfields Build 63,000, FTTP Greenfields BOT 84,000 which gives us a total of 952,000 not 1.7 million.

    The predicted active subscribers at June 2013, that is residents that actually use it is only 374,000.

    “Do you not believe that this approach will cause public outrage in the community, with some suburbs literally having received fibre to their door and the suburb next door — or even the next street — having missed out? ”

    You mean like the public outrage that greeted Telstra and Optus when they stopped their HFC rollout all those years ago with suburbs next door to each other having HFC and others not?

    I remember the ‘anger and frustration’ with protesting crowds on the steps of the respective corporate HQ’s well. LOL

    “If the HFC cable networks are to remain a core part of an alternative NBN policy, how does the Coalition propose to deal with this situation?”

    The policy about apartements is changed, I am sure a little ‘taxpayer bonus’ will help change their minds.

    “However, it took the current Government more than 18 months to negotiate the current arrangements with Telstra.”

    Yet to be ratified by shareholders, Parliament and the ACCC of course, your point is what, you cannot change anything Labor has done and that’s not just the NBN because it will probably take too long?

    “Mr Turnbull, during the 2010 election, Labor’s NBN policy enjoyed top-level political support from Cabinet and the Prime Minister, and continues to do so”

    The Labor NBN policy has support from the Labor Prime Minister and the Labor Cabinet? now that is a surprise, what else are they going to do, bag it?

    “with Prime Minister Julia Gillard frequently mentioning the policy in public and conducting site visits for important NBN launches.”

    umm that means the NBN must stay because of all the money spent on NBN hard hats, NBN safety vests and the cost of travel to sites for media shows by politicians? – not sure where you are going with this at all?

    “In comparison, the recent Reith and Leeser reports into the Liberal Party’s 2010 election performance stated that the lack of a solid NBN policy was a key factor in losing seats in areas such as Tasmania.”

    Which has been pointed out was mainly an analysis of ONE seat Bass, where the conclusion reached was that the outcome MIGHT have been better if the Coalition had negated the NBN better.

    Then again it might not have made any difference, I suggest you have a read on the ABC’s site of Anthony Green’s excellent analysis of what the drivers were in the two seats that that were marginal Labour in Tasmania and the only two that the Coalition had any hope of getting, Bass and Bradden and what the actual issues were.

    “Various public statements have indicated Abbott does not understand the telecommunications sector well.”

    Well Gillard has stated the Coalition will rip up the NBN if it got into power, in fact this is what you had to say about that at the time.

    ” No matter how hard the Australian Labor Party tries, when it comes to the telecommunications sector it just keeps on shooting itself in the foot — a fact demonstrated starkly by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s appalling comments on the NBN over the past week.”

    http://delimiter.com.au/2011/06/30/gillard-is-ripping-up-labors-nbn-credibility/

    Didn’t quite make the cut as info in your five questions here though, funny that.

    “If you were appointed Communications Minister in a Coalition Government, what confidence do you have that you would be able to get Cabinet-level support for the policy you outlined yesterday, and what level of support does your new policy enjoy today within the Opposition?”

    Well it depends what sort of majority the Coalition enjoy post election if they have the majority outright in both houses of Parliament the level of support is a given, if they have to tap dance with the Independents and or the Greens like Labor does currently that’s what they will do.

    “It is now mature and very solidly in place.”

    How is it mature when it is still in the pilot phase and the all important Telstra deal on which it’s whole reason for existence hinges has yet to be approved, sounds immature and flaky to me.

    “If the Coalition wishes to put up a substantive rival policy … the Australian electorate, frankly, deserves a lot more detail.’

    You mean like the ‘NBN Co business plan’, which came out well after the initial decision between Rudd and Conroy anyway, on that basis a Coalition plan on the back of a envelope nutted by Abbott and Turnbull on a domestic flight will suffice!

  7. Once toshP300 and alain’s households are connected to fibre, I wonder if their tunes will change? ;)

    • yes, but we’ll never know, because they are too afraid to post under their real names. They’ll just disappear, or starting complaining about the introduction of something else modern that threatens their way of life.

      Just like the people that opposed the introduction of sealed roads for cars (because it would hurt the hooves of their horses) adapted and bought auto-mobiles instead, they really won’t have any choice! :-D

    • Only if it was connected under a Liberal scheme. Doesn’t matter that it will cost more in the long run and leave the nation looking stupid for handing the last mile monopoly BACK to telstra AND paying them money to do so on top of break fee’s. Status-quo people. Some people think it is free.

      • hmm…

        1/ faced with the choice between ADSL and fibre broadband, i’d basically pick the cheapest for a given product set.

        2/ but we won’t get that choice because of the $11bln bribe paid to Telstra to shutdown the copper network

        3/ why was the $11bln corporate bribe organised?

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon_FiOS

        “As of June 2009, FiOS Internet had 3.1 million customers (up 31% in last year), and FiOS TV had 2.5 million customers (up 46% in prior year) with FiOS services offered to over 11 million premises nationwide.”

        that’s a take-up rate of < 30%

        • What do they say about old dogs and new tricks…

          An article about the opposition’s patchwork (thanks HC) network and what is the result? The ALP = bad, CLP = good (thanks MW) disciples can’t even desperately find a good point, so try to bag the NBN…LOL!

        • And I’m even more disappointed and amazed, not one contradiction at all in that post. But it’s only early!

        • Why would there be? I’m am adding some valuable insight for Gaslamp, he already knows that the coalitions patchwork plan is an unmitigated disaster.

  8. Somebody explain to me why when Labour projects give out millions of dollars to private enterprises to meet policy needs it is a waste and open to abuse but when the CLP proposes to give billions of dollars to private enterprises it is fiscally responsible?

      • That’s exactly the rationale imo, of the 4 usual suspects here, as I have been saying for sometime…

    • @Matthew

      “Somebody explain to me why when Labour projects give out millions of dollars to private enterprises to meet policy needs it is a waste and open to abuse but when the CLP proposes to give billions of dollars”

      I like the not so subtle shift in your post where Labor billions which is what the NBN is costed at is downgraded to millions and the CLP proposal, not that is has been costed yet is billions.

      Worth a try I guess, no prize though.

      • Any reason why you’re unable to give a straightforward answer to Matthew’s straightforward question though Alain, instead of picking apart his choice of language?

        Let’s assume for argument’s sake that the difference between the millions/billions as you point out is intentional. But the core question itself is quite a reasonable one I would say.

        Both policies effectively provide funding to a number of telecommuncations companies (not sure of the size of subsidy in Turnbull’s plan obviously but one could assume it would be in the order of 10’s of millions at least).

        I’d be interested to see your thoughts on why one of these policies may be perceived as “good” and the other perceived as “bad” from the point of view of providing funds to private companies to promote changes in the broadband sector.

        • There is no question to answer because his statement was false, you then rabbit on as if that is of no consequence and spin it away as just ‘being a choice of language’, it looked English to me or do you consider the word billions = millions? that’s followed by this classic.

          “Both policies effectively provide funding to a number of telecommuncations companies (not sure of the size of subsidy in Turnbull’s plan obviously but one could assume it would be in the order of 10′s of millions at least).”

          They key word phrase in that statement is you are ‘not sure of the size’ on the costing on the Coalition plan, but the NBN business Plan does outline the cost which is multiple billions and is the most expensive fixed line rollout infrastructure type in the World, 100% FTTH.

          The Coalition plan is not 100% FTTH and uses existing working infrastructure and adds to it, so why would it not be LESS than the Labor NBN plan?

          • Ok… in that case please answer this (asked and still unanswered, for the umpteenth time)…

            How can you claim – “you betcha the NBN will be a success”, one week and then claim “the NBN will fail”, literally, the next week…

            WELL???????????????????

    • “We have determined our STARTING set of commercial services to offer Internode customers, and these will apply from the initial commercial launch of Internode’s NBNCo-based services,” said Internode managing director Simon Hackett. However, he warned that this PRICING WAS VULNERABLE TO UPWARD PRESSURE IN THE FUTURE due to existing flaws in the NBNCo wholesale charging model compounded by the ACCC’s ‘121 points of interconnect’ decision.”

      • Oh dear, ADSL1/2+ or HFC anyone? this is going to be hard sell convincing punters to pay more for something they didn’t need in the first place, I expect the NBN marketing promotion Department is getting their free T-shirts and NBN chocolates mass produced, time to get that National Broadband spin machine on the road?

        • my current guess is AVC/CVC is roughly equivalent to TW…. but Internode’s “initial pricing” is much better than TW… the question is are they subject to Internode getting the changes to CVC pricing and #POI that they want.

    • Pricing looks in line with current prices that use Telstra Wholesale tbh. So, their prices are status-quo on a new tech with an unknown take up rate. Be a bit of give and take in the pricing but that is reasonable. Atleast from the perspective of someone who is in an area less than 1hr from Sydney and still has zero competition at his exchange.

      • they are actually much much better than TW (based on Internode’s Easy Reach offerings).

        • Perhaps your math is different to mine.
          Easy reach 250GB plan: $119
          Platinum 200GB plan: $119
          Gold 300gb plan: $119

          Now, those prices look similar to me for the quota I’d be looking at. Only one is 4 -33 times faster (based on MINIMUM ‘acceptable’ speed of 1.5mb which is have heard somewhere is what Telstra define as acceptable and will rarely look further if that is your starting speed).

          Note: I only look at the plans -I- would consider getting.

          • err….

            1/ those platinum and gold plans come bundled with a phone

            2/ that $119 Easy Reach has to be bundled with $30 NodeLine = $150

  9. In regards to your questions

    #1. The NBN is not a big deal, not that many people care about it, its not an issue (this has already been established)
    #2. There isn’t anything in Malcolm Turnbulls plan to install HFC into apartments. In fact he didn’t say anything about installing HFC full stop (he only said the current HFC would be re-allowed for internet use)
    #3. Spit Telstra, that is all thats required imho
    #4. Probably less then it took for Labor to get the deal ;)
    #5. Again not an issue. As Malcolm himself said, the last election was won under rare circumstances. As said in #1, not that many people actually care about the NBN

    And last of all, Labor will most likely lose, so instead of debating about public outrage for coalitions plan, you should probably be asking more valid questions arising from cost and whatnot

  10. Also as a note, the business plan is being revised due to the massive delay in NBN negotiating with Telstra, and so NBN will not pass the 1.7 million premises by the end of the election as promised

      • The delay in NBN having its contracts cancelled is definitely not Telstra’s fault

        And regarding the actual deal, its as much of Telstra’s fault as it is NBNCo’s

  11. “The delay in having contracts cancelled”… you mean the contracts where you guys were screaming waste, waste , waste and when NBNCo said to the contractors you are too expensive (disproving your waste theory) you then instead said, oh well umm, look at the hold up…!

    As for the actual deal, I tend to a agree, it takes two to tango (although let’s face it, Telstra has a proven track record at stiffing and hurdles)…!

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