According to the latest OECD data, Australia has some of the most expensive broadband services in the developed world. This has been exacerbated since the Liberals and Nationals voted to privatise Telstra and create the vertically-integrated monopoly we have today.
The NBN will be a wholesale-only, open access network. It will introduce genuine competition to the telecommunications market and this will open up genuine choice of services and drive highly competitive prices for consumers, whether they live in a capital city or in rural and regional areas. NBN Co will offer a service at a uniform wholesale national price no matter where a premise is located. Already we are seeing competition in action with some very competitive introductory prices on offer in Tasmania.
Just as we look back and wonder how people ever managed without electricity, I have no doubt that our children and grandchildren will look back and wonder how we ever managed without the NBN. The Gillard government is ensuring that every Australian has access to the technology of the future.
It is right to debate projects of the scale and complexity of the NBN, but let’s make sure the facts are at the centre of the debate.
Well, I have a few points to make on the article:
1. He says it will generate competition, however my understanding of the NBN is that it requires the existing networks to be decommisioned. It may actually lead to problems with the ACCC and it likely to lead to less competition!
2. So, in the bolded bit he has said that the prices will be highly competitive and it will also offer services at a uniform national price. Isn't this just a little contradictory?
3. If it is going to offer a uniform national price (ie same for bush as for cities), then one of two things need to happen a) the cities subsidise the bush which will drive up their pricing or b) the government subidises the bush, meaning there won't be any return for them.
4. Labor has constantly banged on about remote diagnosis of medical problems. I still haven't seen one doctor come out and say that is a good thing, and we certainly don't know what the insurance companies think of this (they could flat our refuse to cover it).
5. He notes that Australia has some of the most expensive broadband in the world, however everything that I have heard regarding rumours of the high speed pricing is that it will be more than the current broadband costs. How can he therefore even make this point?