NBN Co CEO, Bill Morrow, last year warned that Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) faces damaging competition from the upcoming 5G network, and called for a levy on mobile broadband services to ensure the NBN makes a profit. Thankfully, this special pleading was rejected outright by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Speaking at the ACMA RadComms 2018 conference, ACCC chair Rod Sims rejected calls to protect the NBN from 5G competition, claiming to do so would be a “disaster for consumers”:
Sims said 5G promises to bring a step-change in mobile technology, providing fibre-like speeds and high data capacity that is able to match fixed-line networks, and creating ‘an interesting dynamic’ between mobile networks and the NBN.
“With 5G we will see the first generation of mobile technology capable of delivering broadband services that are comparable to fixed services in terms of speed and capacity,” he says…
“There is an opportunity for wireless operators to attract those consumers who don’t necessarily want the high speeds and unlimited data offered by fixed service providers. For consumers at lower price points, with small data needs, a wireless service might suit better than the NBN”…
“What we must never do, however, is seek to restrain others in order to protect the NBN business model. This would be a disaster for consumers”…
We need to make sure we achieve the most efficient and pro-competitive use of spectrum.”
Good stuff. Any additional competitive pressure on the NBN will obviously compound its losses, driving an even bigger writedown for the federal budget.
That said, the worst policy response would be to limit competition and screw over consumers purely to protect the NBNs margins.
