The NBN (National Broadband Network)
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boyo
Mark Ella (57)
Turnbull ignores looming NBN disaster as Scales weighs in
http://www.zdnet.com/turnbull-ignores-looming-nbn-disaster-as-scales-weighs-in-7000032317/
"Summary: Smug Liberals will embrace Scales' assessment of Labor's NBN as vindication of their own position – but they're ignoring the double disaster towards which Malcolm Turnbull is steering the effort."
"
"Labor may have been clear in its vision that NBN Co needed to be a monopoly, but after years of campaigning against that vision Turnbull has lost all credibility by directing NBN Co to systematically stamp out any industry competition."
"These absurd semantic acrobatics are designed to mask the fact that Turnbull has now officially begun building his own vision of the NBN, without the benefit of a CBA or any of the reasoned, measured analysis that Scales has called for. This is rank hypocrisy but, even worse, it has undone years of negotiating progress by putting the future of Australian telecoms firmly in the grasp of Telstra once again."
"The thing is: with the Abbott government nearing a year in power, Turnbull really must stop blaming Labor and start accepting responsibility for his own missteps. If he doesn't tighten his grip on Telstra, and pull back his attack dogs, his legacy will be as the communications minister that demolished not just one NBN, but two of them."
http://www.zdnet.com/turnbull-ignores-looming-nbn-disaster-as-scales-weighs-in-7000032317/
"Summary: Smug Liberals will embrace Scales' assessment of Labor's NBN as vindication of their own position – but they're ignoring the double disaster towards which Malcolm Turnbull is steering the effort."
"
Turnbull is still contesting the 2013 election but he should take aim at his own looming NBN policy disasters.
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"We all figured out some time ago that Turnbull was desperate to get on with his version of the NBN without regard for the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that he believes all Labor governments should undertake before committing to major infrastructure investments.""Labor may have been clear in its vision that NBN Co needed to be a monopoly, but after years of campaigning against that vision Turnbull has lost all credibility by directing NBN Co to systematically stamp out any industry competition."
"These absurd semantic acrobatics are designed to mask the fact that Turnbull has now officially begun building his own vision of the NBN, without the benefit of a CBA or any of the reasoned, measured analysis that Scales has called for. This is rank hypocrisy but, even worse, it has undone years of negotiating progress by putting the future of Australian telecoms firmly in the grasp of Telstra once again."
"The thing is: with the Abbott government nearing a year in power, Turnbull really must stop blaming Labor and start accepting responsibility for his own missteps. If he doesn't tighten his grip on Telstra, and pull back his attack dogs, his legacy will be as the communications minister that demolished not just one NBN, but two of them."
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
Extract from the Australian:-
"...Last night, former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said: “I think it would be far better if we got on with the rollout of the NBN rather than what I’ll call the political payback process that’s going on at the present time, which seems to have beleaguered the NBN since its inception and still appears to be doing so.”
He said his only disappointment with the report was that he gave Mr Scales an interview but the report author did not check back on the veracity of his findings, “but that’s part of the political process we have to deal with’’....."
"...Last night, former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said: “I think it would be far better if we got on with the rollout of the NBN rather than what I’ll call the political payback process that’s going on at the present time, which seems to have beleaguered the NBN since its inception and still appears to be doing so.”
He said his only disappointment with the report was that he gave Mr Scales an interview but the report author did not check back on the veracity of his findings, “but that’s part of the political process we have to deal with’’....."
Pfitzy
George Gregan (70)
Yeah funny how audits of the previous government's shit rarely turn up the rave reviews and such.
Anyway, the point is: stop fucking around looking for why it was shit, because you're just wasting more money making yourselves look like cocks.
This is a waste of time, because we already know you're cocks.
Anyway, the point is: stop fucking around looking for why it was shit, because you're just wasting more money making yourselves look like cocks.
This is a waste of time, because we already know you're cocks.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
A month ago, before a Senate committee inquiry into broadband competition, Telstra's Bill Scales and Tony Warren rather let the cat out of the bag.
Warren, group manager, regulatory strategy, told the committee: "I think it is right to suggest that ADSL is an interim technology. It is probably the last sweating, if you like, of the old copper network assets. In copper years, if you like, we are at a sort of transition – we are at five minutes to midnight.
A few minutes later his boss, Bill Scales, attempted to bury this bit of candour: The only point of clarification, just so that there is no misunderstanding, is that when we think about the copper network, we are still thinking about 10 years out. So five minutes to midnight in this context
The same Bill Scales, in 2003.
Warren, group manager, regulatory strategy, told the committee: "I think it is right to suggest that ADSL is an interim technology. It is probably the last sweating, if you like, of the old copper network assets. In copper years, if you like, we are at a sort of transition – we are at five minutes to midnight.
A few minutes later his boss, Bill Scales, attempted to bury this bit of candour: The only point of clarification, just so that there is no misunderstanding, is that when we think about the copper network, we are still thinking about 10 years out. So five minutes to midnight in this context
The same Bill Scales, in 2003.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
MT hasn't learnt that "when you're in a hole, stop digging".
Some advice for Turnbull on the NBN: move on
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/braue-stop-the-fighting-and-start-building-the-nbn/5654632
"Labor's implementation of the NBN wasn't perfect, but rather than continuing to snipe at his predecessors, Malcolm Turnbull needs to start addressing his own shortcomings, writes David Braue."
"What most Australians want is results, and those who are willing to take the time to critically assess the effort will see that that the nearly year-old government has yet to produce strong results on the NBN. With the cost-benefit analysis due to drop last month but now expected, well, some day - and with the private sector well and truly scared away from investing in new networks - the Coalition's NBN truly is in no-man's land. The sooner Turnbull stops contesting the 2013 election, and instead addresses the glaring problems in front of him, the sooner everyone can begin to benefit."
Some advice for Turnbull on the NBN: move on
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/braue-stop-the-fighting-and-start-building-the-nbn/5654632
"Labor's implementation of the NBN wasn't perfect, but rather than continuing to snipe at his predecessors, Malcolm Turnbull needs to start addressing his own shortcomings, writes David Braue."
"What most Australians want is results, and those who are willing to take the time to critically assess the effort will see that that the nearly year-old government has yet to produce strong results on the NBN. With the cost-benefit analysis due to drop last month but now expected, well, some day - and with the private sector well and truly scared away from investing in new networks - the Coalition's NBN truly is in no-man's land. The sooner Turnbull stops contesting the 2013 election, and instead addresses the glaring problems in front of him, the sooner everyone can begin to benefit."
Runner
Nev Cottrell (35)
KordaMentha review of NBN Co slams top directors
14 Aug 2014
KordaMentha’s reported that the NBN board lacked effective management and evaluation of NBN boss Mike Quigley, but noted this changed when Siobhan McKenna (pictured) became NBN’s chairman in March 2013.
Anne Hyland
The NBN Co board did not have the right mix of skilled and experienced directors and failed to identify strategic risks of Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, according to a damning report into its corporate governance.
The findings by a KordaMentha report were about directors who served on the NBN board between 2009 and September 2013, who included Diane Smith-Gander, now Transfield Services chair, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia director Harrison Young, who was NBN Co’s chairman.
“Our conclusion is that the mix of skills and experience of the [board directors] was not appropriate for a company of the nature, scale and complexity of NBN,” KordaMentha stated in its report.
Commissioned by the Abbott government, KordaMentha said NBN Co boards have a “lack of dirt under the fingernails”, meaning they had a collective lack of deep operational experience and insight into areas critical to the NBN, including working with government, telecoms experience, construction and major infrastructure building experience, and accounting and financial controls knowledge.
In a letter to KordaMentha partner Owain Stone, nine NBN directors challenged the findings. “We generally disagree with the findings in the draft report and consider a number of them to be unsupported by the facts,” they wrote in a letter after they were given a draft of the report.
The directors who put their name to that letter were Peter Hay, Gene Tilbrook, Harrison Young, Diane Smith-Gander, Siobhan McKenna, Terry Francis, Rick Turchini, Brad Orgill and Alison Lansley.
All those directors said they had fulfilled their duties with care and diligence. They declined to be interviewed by KordaMentha.
“The board devoted significant time to strategic risks and, in particular, the related risks of time delays and costs overruns,” the nine directors wrote.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government would consider the report.
“The findings are very troubling,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “The board was clearly not appropriate for the task at hand. There are certainly some things the board didn’t do that they should have done.”
KordaMentha noted the excessive demands on NBN directors. It said board papers in 2011 ran to almost 8000 pages; the equivalent of 35 working days of reading, in addition to attending board meetings and seeing the executive committee.
Kerry Schott and Ms Lansley are the only NBN directors appointed by the previous Labor government to stay after the Coalition won office in September. Ms Schott, who has extensive experience in the government and private sectors, did agree to be interviewed by KordaMentha, while Mike Quigley, the former chief executive of NBN Co, did not.
Report is a ‘witch hunt’, claims ex-director
The report’s other findings included that the board lacked effective management and evaluation of Mr Quigley. There were no specific key performance indicators set for him, other than delivering on the overall corporate plan. The report noted this changed when Ms McKenna, who is managing partner of Lachlan Murdoch’s private investment vehicle Illyria, became NBN Co chairman in March 2013.
The report said the first assessment of Mr Quigley by Mr Young was a “limited review” and occurred more than three years after the chief executive’s appointment.
At least one former NBN Co board director told The Australian Financial Review they had declined to be interviewed for the report because they believed it was a “witch hunt”.
In a letter to KordaMentha, Mr Quigley denied there had been any frustration among senior NBN management about being “under the microscope”. He said management expected scrutiny working for a government enterprise but were frustrated regarding “the deliberate distortion of facts”.
KordaMentha found in its report that previous NBN Co boards had not devoted enough time to identifying strategic risks associated with the NBN roll out. It also noted annual board performance assessments were completed in 2011 and 2012 but no board minutes, papers or other records of the content of such reviews were kept.
In 2013, Ms McKenna told the government that there were “no areas of concern”, which the report said contradicted findings by Johnson Partners, which had conducted a board-performance assessment.
Johnson Partners found the board tried to test the management assumption underpinning the 10-year roll-out schedule of the NBN but “this proved difficult given the policy directions from [Labor] ministers and the attitude of the CEO”.
A source close to the nine directors said extensive discussions and correspondence with the government and management on the roll-out were held and comments of “no areas of concern” were made in a form letter filled under government business guidelines.
The NBN Co board is now chaired by Ziggy Switkowski, a former chief executive of Telstra.
In June, the Financial Review revealed that more than 118,338 premises counted as covered by the NBN could not use the service because of defective fibre connections, and required millions of dollars of repairs.
The Abbott government commissioned KordaMentha to review previous NBN board performance in relation to governance, management and accountability.
Earlier this month, a government-commissioned audit of the setup of the NBN, undertaken by former Telstra director Bill Scales, found the project was “rushed, chaotic and inadequate”.
The Australian Financial Review
14 Aug 2014
KordaMentha’s reported that the NBN board lacked effective management and evaluation of NBN boss Mike Quigley, but noted this changed when Siobhan McKenna (pictured) became NBN’s chairman in March 2013.
Anne Hyland
The NBN Co board did not have the right mix of skilled and experienced directors and failed to identify strategic risks of Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, according to a damning report into its corporate governance.
The findings by a KordaMentha report were about directors who served on the NBN board between 2009 and September 2013, who included Diane Smith-Gander, now Transfield Services chair, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia director Harrison Young, who was NBN Co’s chairman.
“Our conclusion is that the mix of skills and experience of the [board directors] was not appropriate for a company of the nature, scale and complexity of NBN,” KordaMentha stated in its report.
Commissioned by the Abbott government, KordaMentha said NBN Co boards have a “lack of dirt under the fingernails”, meaning they had a collective lack of deep operational experience and insight into areas critical to the NBN, including working with government, telecoms experience, construction and major infrastructure building experience, and accounting and financial controls knowledge.
In a letter to KordaMentha partner Owain Stone, nine NBN directors challenged the findings. “We generally disagree with the findings in the draft report and consider a number of them to be unsupported by the facts,” they wrote in a letter after they were given a draft of the report.
The directors who put their name to that letter were Peter Hay, Gene Tilbrook, Harrison Young, Diane Smith-Gander, Siobhan McKenna, Terry Francis, Rick Turchini, Brad Orgill and Alison Lansley.
All those directors said they had fulfilled their duties with care and diligence. They declined to be interviewed by KordaMentha.
“The board devoted significant time to strategic risks and, in particular, the related risks of time delays and costs overruns,” the nine directors wrote.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government would consider the report.
“The findings are very troubling,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “The board was clearly not appropriate for the task at hand. There are certainly some things the board didn’t do that they should have done.”
KordaMentha noted the excessive demands on NBN directors. It said board papers in 2011 ran to almost 8000 pages; the equivalent of 35 working days of reading, in addition to attending board meetings and seeing the executive committee.
Kerry Schott and Ms Lansley are the only NBN directors appointed by the previous Labor government to stay after the Coalition won office in September. Ms Schott, who has extensive experience in the government and private sectors, did agree to be interviewed by KordaMentha, while Mike Quigley, the former chief executive of NBN Co, did not.
Report is a ‘witch hunt’, claims ex-director
The report’s other findings included that the board lacked effective management and evaluation of Mr Quigley. There were no specific key performance indicators set for him, other than delivering on the overall corporate plan. The report noted this changed when Ms McKenna, who is managing partner of Lachlan Murdoch’s private investment vehicle Illyria, became NBN Co chairman in March 2013.
The report said the first assessment of Mr Quigley by Mr Young was a “limited review” and occurred more than three years after the chief executive’s appointment.
At least one former NBN Co board director told The Australian Financial Review they had declined to be interviewed for the report because they believed it was a “witch hunt”.
In a letter to KordaMentha, Mr Quigley denied there had been any frustration among senior NBN management about being “under the microscope”. He said management expected scrutiny working for a government enterprise but were frustrated regarding “the deliberate distortion of facts”.
KordaMentha found in its report that previous NBN Co boards had not devoted enough time to identifying strategic risks associated with the NBN roll out. It also noted annual board performance assessments were completed in 2011 and 2012 but no board minutes, papers or other records of the content of such reviews were kept.
In 2013, Ms McKenna told the government that there were “no areas of concern”, which the report said contradicted findings by Johnson Partners, which had conducted a board-performance assessment.
Johnson Partners found the board tried to test the management assumption underpinning the 10-year roll-out schedule of the NBN but “this proved difficult given the policy directions from [Labor] ministers and the attitude of the CEO”.
A source close to the nine directors said extensive discussions and correspondence with the government and management on the roll-out were held and comments of “no areas of concern” were made in a form letter filled under government business guidelines.
The NBN Co board is now chaired by Ziggy Switkowski, a former chief executive of Telstra.
In June, the Financial Review revealed that more than 118,338 premises counted as covered by the NBN could not use the service because of defective fibre connections, and required millions of dollars of repairs.
The Abbott government commissioned KordaMentha to review previous NBN board performance in relation to governance, management and accountability.
Earlier this month, a government-commissioned audit of the setup of the NBN, undertaken by former Telstra director Bill Scales, found the project was “rushed, chaotic and inadequate”.
The Australian Financial Review
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
When you do the sums, the bottom line is that FTTN architecture:
- isn't less expensive to roll out (in Australia);
- will take just as long to deliver;
- is more prone to failures and service issues;
- costs more to run;
- provides an inferior grade of service, and
- has no realistic, long-term potential for an upgrade path to better-performing technologies.
- isn't less expensive to roll out (in Australia);
- will take just as long to deliver;
- is more prone to failures and service issues;
- costs more to run;
- provides an inferior grade of service, and
- has no realistic, long-term potential for an upgrade path to better-performing technologies.
boyo
Mark Ella (57)
In support of a fibre-to-the-premises NBN
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/552811/support_fibre-to-the-premises_nbn/
"What Scales seems to have missed here is that the Analysys Mason report was based on the British broadband landscape, and assumed that the copper network required for a FTTN rollout was already owned by the operator rolling out the network. When parts of the copper network and/or the associated ducts might need to be purchased or leased, as required for Australia’s NBN, the calculus changes completely."
"With such a huge investment sunk in the Coalition’s multi-technology mix NBN, there is going to be very little appetite in government to fund future expensive upgrades to FTTP. If the government sells the NBN to a commercial monopoly operator, there could be even less incentive for upgrades to FTTP. There is a real danger that Australia will remain trapped in a broadband backwater"
Indeed
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/552811/support_fibre-to-the-premises_nbn/
"What Scales seems to have missed here is that the Analysys Mason report was based on the British broadband landscape, and assumed that the copper network required for a FTTN rollout was already owned by the operator rolling out the network. When parts of the copper network and/or the associated ducts might need to be purchased or leased, as required for Australia’s NBN, the calculus changes completely."
"With such a huge investment sunk in the Coalition’s multi-technology mix NBN, there is going to be very little appetite in government to fund future expensive upgrades to FTTP. If the government sells the NBN to a commercial monopoly operator, there could be even less incentive for upgrades to FTTP. There is a real danger that Australia will remain trapped in a broadband backwater"
Indeed
Tex
Greg Davis (50)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...-turnbull-nbn-internet-speed-whiteboard-video
I'm no liberal party fanboy, but Turnbull is one of the few that is emerging from this clusterfuck of a government with his shoes relatively unstained.
I'm no liberal party fanboy, but Turnbull is one of the few that is emerging from this clusterfuck of a government with his shoes relatively unstained.
I like to watch
David Codey (61)
He always comes across as both reasonable and credible to me.
I cannot understand how he was rolled in favour of the mad monk.
It's like trading in your BMW for a fucking P76.
I cannot understand how he was rolled in favour of the mad monk.
It's like trading in your BMW for a fucking P76.
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