From the SMH:
The Coalition’s national broadband network model will prove inadequate for many businesses, is poorly planned and is unlikely to be completed on time, according to NBN Co’s internal analysis for the incoming Abbott government.
…The draft document also slashes revenue projections important for the project’s commercial viability by up to 30 per cent by 2021.
…The document:
- warns that some medium-sized businesses and all large enterprises would need to buy their own fibre internet connections as the cheaper NBN alternative would be unable to support many business-class features offered under Labor’s fibre-to-the-home model. Even small businesses with a “high design and or knowledge-worker component” would find the Coalition model only partly covered their needs.
- criticises Mr Turnbull’s proposed two-stage rollout of 25Mbps and 50Mbps, noting that it would require trucks to visit each premises in the country twice. The report’s authors advise: “There is no need to delay a deployment … NBN Co should deploy the best available technology in the [fibre-to-the-node] network from the start of the rollout.”
- finds that broadband providers would not be able to offer as many high-end packages. “This may cause concerns in the community, especially for people wanting higher broadband speeds,’’ it says.
The revelations in the document came to light on Thursday as a Senate committee heard that officials expected the government to make less money from the NBN under the Coalition model because it would offer slower speeds and users were likely to download and upload less data than otherwise would be expected, and because it would face competition from companies offering other technologies.
Debate welcome on this.
