NBN at 100Mbps more affordable than today's services: Quigley

Stan Beer
Friday, 29 July 2011 11:01

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has hit back at critics of the perceived high prices for premium services of the National Broadband Network, saying it is much cheaper than any equivalent services on the market today.

Last week, broadband provider Internode, announced its NBN pricing, with the premium bundled 100Mbps download and 40Mbps upload starting at $100 a month for 30GB of data rising to $190 a month for 1TB.

At the same time, Internode founder Simon Hackett slammed NBN Co for its pricing of NBN wholesale services saying that they were not based on real costs and the company was forced to offer NBN services at higher prices than equivalent DSL services.

Speaking at a press event at the launch of the NBN in Kiama Downs, the first NSW trial site of the $36 billion FttP network, Mr Quigley defended the pricing of the Internode premium services claiming they were far cheaper than any non NBN offering on the market.

Mr Quigley said that the 100Mbps service also includes 40Mbps upload and that the prices offered by Internode are much cheaper for that level of service than anything else on the market, including cable. According to Mr Quigley, the 40Mbps upload capability will be very important for business.

Speaking at the same event next to Mr Quigley, broadband minister Senator Stephen Conroy said he expected retail prices to come down when the top three big players Telstra, Optus and iiNet start offering NBN services, as well as the entry of Vodafone into the market.