NBN: How core is self-interest to the debate?

Renai LeMay
Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:00

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

One of the signatories to a national broadband proposal unveiled at the eleventh hour to rival Labor's own long-running NBN project has accused vendors and telcos of stirring up hype for a fibre-optic cable future in line with a view to serving their own interests in generating massive contracts and gaining operating certainty.

There appeared to have been a growing public consensus in Australia's telecommunications industry over the past 18 months since Labor unveiled its NBN policy that fibre to the home was necessary to take the country forward, especially when it came to growing a strong technology sector.

However, the issue has increasingly been questioned over the election period, with the Coalition unveiling a much more minimalist policy, and a group of telcos this week breaking with the industry to push their own 'NBN 3.0'³ policy which shares many similarities with the Coalition's wireless- and backhaul-based plan.

Vendors like Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent have discussed the issue in the public over the past several years, including the benefits that high-speed broadband can bring. And so have top-tier telco executives such as Internode's Simon Hackett.

'I don't want to offend anyone, but I would suggest there is probably some vested interests at play in the NBN,' said BigAir chief executive Jason Ashton this week, when asked why the industry consensus has lasted so long.

Ashton, along with counterparts from telcos like AAPT, Pipe Networks and others, is part of the NBN 3.0 group, which has dubbed itself the Alliance for Affordable Broadband.