Coalition launches unprecedented attack on regional nbn
Peter Dutton and his Shadow Ministry have launched an Abbott-era attack on the National Broadband Network, threatening to cut regional investment.
In 2022, the Coalition announced the major boost for the NBN fixed wireless network with much fanfare and a nationwide ad campaign, but now they are walking away from it.Faster internet coming for Maranoa - David Littleproud | Federal Member for Maranoa
Despite the Coalition once supporting upgrades to regional NBN, the Shadow Minister reversed support overnight stating “the NBN wireless business is a shambles”.
These escalating attacks on the regional NBN satellite and fixed wireless services only mean one thing: Dutton is laying the groundwork for privatisation.
Labor’s fixed-wireless upgrades were delivered on time by the end of 2024 and lifted average NBN fixed wireless speeds to over 100 megabits per second for 400,000 active connections.
With the tower upgrades now completed, major retail service providers including Telstra and TPG have confirmed they will be making new NBN Fixed Wireless High-Speed Tier products available to customers this year.
Complaints about NBN fixed wireless are at record lows, and 800,000 regional homes and businesses can now access faster and more reliable connectivity, with future speeds of up to 400 megabits per second.
Average monthly downloads over fixed wireless have increased to more than 400 Gigabytes per month since the upgrades have been undertaken, an increase of more than 20%.
This contrasts with fixed wireless speeds dropping to 6 megabits per second during busy hour under the Coalition and record complaints.
People in rural and regional Australia deserve the same world class connectivity enjoyed by NBN customers in metro areas.
Whether it is opposition to Universal Outdoor Mobile coverage, or hostility towards public investment in regional communications, Dutton will leave regional Australians worse off.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP:
“What we see under Peter Dutton is a return to Abbott era ideology and policy idiocy”
“Labor will continue to invest in the regions because we understand how essential fast, reliable and affordable broadband is for the success of regional and rural communities”
“Australians have a clear choice: a publicly owned NBN under Labor that continues to invest and keep prices affordable –
“Or a privatised NBN that cuts regional investment and jacks up prices”
