Government tips last dollars into NBN

Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) won't get anywhere near completion before direct government funding for the project dries up, the 2016 Budget reveals. It's even feasible that the government could throw its hands in the air and terminate the rollout, if the cost of doing so is less than the total cost of funding …

[Anonymous Coward]

Greed and Corruption

Shame on you Australian Government. I hope they fire off a Royal Commission into the Australian Govt and Testra. The 50+ Year Old copper wire network was and always will be rubbish and it needs to be brought to light that they were in fact wasting tax payer dollars by stepping away from the only realistic and most cost effective solution (FTTP) and continuing down a path that would cost more money to maintain, but had the mysterious perk of keeping the interested parties pockets full of more $$$.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Greed and Corruption

The 50+ Year Old copper wire network was and always will be rubbish

If that's the case, why is it left in place for our POTS? Neighbour up the road believed going FW would be fasterer than his ADSL2. It's not; it's only a little over half as fast and considerably more expensive. Of course he can upgrade from 12 Mb/s to 25 Mb/s, but that's more expensive still. About a third of our neighbours have been told they will only have Internet access via satellite or mobile wireless in the not very distant. All part of the original ALP NBN Plan.

[Jasonk]

Re: Greed and Corruption

Sorry that's the coalition plan like leaving the west cost of TAS to just sat.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Greed and Corruption

Sorry that's the coalition plan

Wowsers! So you are saying that it only took five months after the coalition came to power for the planning, building and connecting of users to the local tower! So why all the news stories on the ABC about how Vision Stream were dragging their feet under Labor? Maybe I should change a lifetime habit and start voting for the coalition instead of the ALP. The coalition are obviously superheroes...

[Jasonk]

Re: Greed and Corruption

It took less than that to remove a lot of premises off the 3 year rollout plan.

Labor plan if town was too small for fixed line you would get wireless or live just out of town you would get wireless. Further than that it's sat. With FTTP unlike FTTN it's not constrant where the copper or power is. Plus it's not affect by distance like FTTN is.

Coslition plan is if it cost too much to connect FTTN you get wireless or sat even when you already have ADSL connected.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Greed and Corruption

Coslition plan is if it cost too much to connect FTTN you get wireless or sat even when you already have ADSL connected.

This was the ALP plan, not the coalition plan. When we were told that this was what we were going to get, the ALP were in power Stephen Conroy was the Minister for Communications. I had ADSL1 running at 1500 bp/s; now I have FW running at 10 Mb/s. There's no way that public servants could plan, obtain a DA and build the tower in 6 months! I paid for the connection on 7 March 2014. The coalition won the election held on 7 September 2013. My neighbours who are to get satellite are somewhat closer to the exchange than me.

[Phil Kingston]

Re: Greed and Corruption

Whilst nbn may be a continuing shambles (and who saw that coming!?!), surely the last thing we need is another few million chucked at a toothless, pointless Royal Commission?

With the number of Royal Commissions being called for/set-up, I'm surprised there's anyone available to participate on them. I keep expecting my cat to be called up to sit on the commission.

Whilst the aim was ambitious and laudable, the politics at play in such a large project were always going to screw it over.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Greed and Corruption

I keep expecting my cat to be called up to sit on the commission.

Your cat wouldn't be called Incitatus by any chance? I would have thought becoming the first feline P(urr)emier of Victoria would be a more fitting position ;-)

Better than Geoff Kennett dressed up in a chicken suit anyway...

[Medixstiff]

Re: Greed and Corruption

" I hope they fire off a Royal Commission into the Australian Govt and Testra"

To do what, waste more taxpayer $'s?

It's not like any of the pollie's will do prison time or pay any fines, there is nothing that a commission can do that will in any way, shape or form, will reimburse the Australian taxpayer for the screwed up excuse for a National Braodband Network we are being lumped with.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Greed and Corruption

It's my thought that a certain Communications Minister saw an opportunity for his mates to turn one rollout into two.

[Winkypop]

Innovation, Innovation, Innovation

No, No, No

This from the "tech-savy" Turnbull government.

I guess they can always say it was Labor's fault.

Icon: Old copper (sort of)

[aberglas]

$20,000 per household!

If reading between the lines $20 billion has been spent, and 1,000,000 households connected.

Sure, there is more to it than that with ramp up costs. But it does look like they spent almost all of the budget before delivering much at all. And many of those 1,000,000 are greenfield sites which were wired up by the developer and not NBN. (And probably even less would be delivered with FTTP, but that is a separate issue.)

Canceling would be the worst possible outcome. Without the NBN the ADSL black spots would have been addressed and we would all have passable if not spectacular broadband. But a cancelled NBN means we get nothing at all.

Great article by the way. Thanks for being the only decent source of IT news down here.

[Steven Collins]

Re: $20,000 per household!

They don't seem to be addressing black spots at all, at least in Adelaide. We live 20km from CBD and have no ADSL at all. Our suburb is also not yet slated for NBN any year soon.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nbn MTM mk3 to nbn FTTx mk4 this 2016 federal election?

In the run up to the 2016 federal election, now's a good time to change the approach to superfast broadband through nbn/ PMG lite/ .../ Ruddstra.

The fed gov or some agency can stipulate minimum performance and maximum prices.

Fixed satellite wireless, with one Ka-band satellite up, another on order, by way of America and Guyana, could be tendered.

Fixed terrestrial wireless, by Ericsson, could be tendered.

HFC can be handed back to SingTel Optus and Telstra. Except for a trial, nbn has done nothing with it, despite deals with said carriers in 2011 and 2014.

More mobile terrestrial wireless blackspots could be tendered.

I certainly noted a number of cafes now depending on Telstra Air Wi-Fi.

Existing fibre that is deemed nbn equivalent already must have a wholesale option.

Which leaves the copper to fibre transition. 2.5GPON FTTP should be planned to be updated to 10G NG PON2 post 2019. FTTx rolled out so far should be evaluated, and probably more FTTDp/ G.Fast done and less FTTx/ VDSL2. Especially where the x is not a B, but an N.

[Jim84]

Copy the neighbours

The Register is still ignoring the fact that NZ seems to have successfully and without much fuss rolled out a fibre to the premises network for most of its population. Perhaps an article examining what went right in NZ and what went wrong in OZ is in order? You could start with the fact that the NZ government thought it essential to split the NZ version of Telstra (Telecom) into a wholesale lines company (Chorus) and a retail service company (Spark), and when Telecom said it didn't fancy this played hardball.

https://itbrief.co.nz/story/government-approves-telecom-split/

[RealFred]

We already have retail and wholesale split in Telstra. Guess which half the Government owns 51% in. As of current contracts, there is no service contract between Telstra and NBN. If your service breaks, Telstra and Optus can take their own sweet time in fixing it. Some friends in Armidale waited 6 weeks