Feds fund entire NBN Tassie 'joint-venture'

James Riley
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:25

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The Australian Government is carrying the entire cost of the national broadband network roll-out in Tasmania, with negotiations over the planned joint-venture with State-owned utility Aurora Energy put on hold last year and not expected to resume until July.

Tasmania NBN Company executive chairman Doug Campbell told iTWire the joint-venture discussions were deferred because both the federal and state governments believed the negotiations "were taking longer than they felt was appropriate" and was distracting from the embryonic first stages of the $43 billion NBN roll-out.

"We have been more focused on getting the job done in Stage One than we are on (finalising) the joint-venture agreement," Campbell said.

When the Tasmania NBN Company (NBN Tasmania) was jointly announced by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett last July, the intention was always that it would be jointly owned by the Australian Government - through its ownership of NBN Co - and the Tasmanian Government, through its ownership of Aurora.

Aurora was to have tipped assets into the new venture - primarily its existing fibre, its ducting and access to power poles - and provide expertise and personnel in return for equity in the joint-venture company. Those assets are instead being leased, and Aurora is being paid as a contractor for its involvement in the network build.

The state government was to have funded a 12 Mbps wireless network to reached regional Tasmanians not being connected to NBN fibre. The Australian Government was to have provided the majority of funding, through the NBN Co parent company, and would provide the satellite services to reach more remote Tasmanians.

But the Australian Government, which a week ago tipped a further $100 million into NBN Tasmania project, assumed total funding responsibility under a "short form" agreement that aimed to fast-track the Stage One roll-out of fibre to the three communities of Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithton.