Business Council slams NBN plans

Stuart Corner
Monday, 26 October 2009 07:48

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

It envisages that the implementation study (which is due to be completed in February and for which a consortium between McKinsey & KPMG was chosen as the lead advisor ) should cover far more than implementation, such as seeking seek to answer fundamental question on the need for the NBN.

The study should "Explicitly define the objective of the NBN roll-out...Consider the optimal timing, scale, scope and specification of the roll-out... on the basis of a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the NBN which should include an assessment of the investment case for the policy as proposed, and also test alternative approaches."

The report also calls for "a thorough assessment of risks [to] be part of this analysis...[along with assessment of the] expected wider productivity benefits arising from the NBN roll-out."

And it calls on the study to "Develop roll-out benchmarks and, once established, target service levels for the NBN that can be publicly reported against."

Finally, despite the fact that legislation is already through the House and now in the Senate, the report says the implementation study should "Consider and recommend the appropriate regulatory regime for the NBN...[and] recommend an appropriate competition regime for the sector."