Do we even need a fibre National Broadband Network?

Renai LeMay
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 18:15

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The following post is by Sean Kaye, a senior Australian IT executive. It first appeared on his personal blog, Sean on IT, and is re-published here with his permission. Kaye also blogs at Startups Down Under.

opinion As someone who is very pro-technology and likes to be on the cutting edge, I find myself staring at many of my colleagues and acquaintances in the industry with disbelief when the topic of the National Broadband Network comes up. People I know (and some who just email or tweet me) ask if I've bumped my head and forgotten what I do for a living. It even has had me re-thinking my views, but ultimately I keep coming to the same place.

Here's what I think '¦

First of all, $43 billion is a ridiculous sum of money to spend on anything. It is even crazier when the country finds itself coming off a $22 billion surplus and staring down the barrel of $100 billion of debt. I don't think this is at all right now about need, but is entirely about our ability to cover the cost of such a thing.

Our Federal Government, no matter who wins the upcoming election, is going to be spending about $5 billion '” $6 billion per year just servicing that $100 billion debt '” on the $30 billion of debt on the NBN, you'd be looking at close to $2 billion of servicing costs per year alone!