National Broadband Network
[1] Rationales for this national telecommunications infrastructure project included replacing the existing copper cable telephony network that is approaching end of life,[a] and the rapidly growing demand for Internet access.
[3][4][5][6] As the largest infrastructure project in Australia's history,[7] NBN was the subject of significant political contention and has been an issue in federal elections.
The NBN was originally to deliver its wholesale service through fibre to the node (FTTN) and reach approximately 98% of premises in Australia by June 2016.
Financial forecasts for NBN Co assuming a 7% internal rate of return (IRR) expect the government and debt equity will be fully repaid including accrued interest by FY2040.
[16] Originally, NBN Co planned for a centralised model with only 14 points of interconnect (PoIs); however, that was overruled by the Federal Government on the advice from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
[18] Internode criticised the "insane"[19] number of POIs and after its pricing announcement warned it might have to charge more in regional areas because of the increased costs.
The agreement covered the construction of the NBN in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT by Silcar, a company joint-owned by Siemens and Thiess.
Telstra was not required to separate retail and wholesale operations, instead agreeing to disconnect its Internet customers from the copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial networks in areas where FTTP has been installed and agreed to lease dark fibre, exchange space and ducts to NBN Co. Telstra would not be able to market their mobile network as an alternative to the NBN for a number of years.
NBN Co signed an agreement with Optus on 23 June estimated to be worth $800 million post-tax net present value over its hybrid fibre-coaxial network.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon blocked Huawei from seeking a supply contract for the National Broadband Network, on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
The Multi-Technology Mix (MTM) was selected as the approach to broadband provision by the Liberal–National coalition in the lead up to the 2013 Australian federal election.
Regional and remote areas were mainly unchanged as a result of the strategic review and typically receive a service using either fixed wireless, using LTE technology, or satellite.
The MTM added fibre to the node (FTTN) as the preferred technology; and kept hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) (previously planned to be shut down).
[39] Quigley publicly attacked the NBN and the MTM, noting cost blowouts and delays that he said were the fault of changes made by the Coalition government.
[60] In response to the imminent broadcast of a critical documentary, Turnbull stated that NBN was a failure, but blaming the earlier Rudd and Gillard governments.
[65] In November 2017 NBN Co temporarily suspended the rollout of its HFC network due to performance issues,[66] costing Telstra close to $600 million AUD of its 2018 profits.
In February 2018, Turnbull was criticised for connecting The Lodge to the NBN using FTTC technology while neighbours had FTTN, and for having a 100 Mbit/s plan, when he had previously stated that most Australians would not need those speeds.
[69] In April 2019, the ACCC released a report stating that consumers were paying more for basic internet access under the NBN than they were for ADSL plans under the same speeds.
It is connected to the existing copper lines via a small distribution point unit (DPU) located near the property boundary inside a pit on the street.
2,600 transmission towers connected by microwave and optical fibre to exchanges will use TD-LTE 4G mobile broadband technology to cover around 500,000 premises in rural areas.
[102] 2,600 transmission towers connected by optical fibre to exchanges will provide TD-LTE 4G mobile broadband technology to cover around 500,000 premises.
The number of premises assigned to each base station was to be limited[103] to ensure users received "good service" with adequate throughput.
NBN Co contracted Space Systems/Loral to build and launch two geostationary Ka band satellites in 2015 at a total cost of A$2 billion,[106] each offering eighty gigabits per second of bandwidth.
Areas are able to switch from: The Technology Choice Program had limited take-up as of 23 March 2017 with 221 applications received; 113 proceeded to obtaining a quote, and 30 upgrading their connection at an average cost of A$7,395.
NBN end users have had difficulty identifying who is responsible for addressing performance issues, due to their relationship being only with their retail service provider.
The lack of accurate information on broadband speeds is a significant issue for end users according to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
[140] Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott,[141] Tony Windsor,[142] Bob Katter[143] and Andrew Wilkie[144] expressed support for NBN.
[146] The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) criticised the NBN as a "huge cost to the public sector",[147] instead advocating a policy focused on filling "gaps".
[158] Given the market failure found in attempting to develop and implement the replacement telecommunications network a natural monopoly was set up with ACCC safeguarding the interests of end users, access seekers and NBN Co.
[168] No aggregate data summarises broadband speeds possible for connectable premises, which has been identified as a significant issue for end users by ACCC.
