If the National Broadband Network was a test of Malcolm Turnbull’s capabilities in engineering and economics, he has failed miserably.
Every passing week we see more evidence of his failures on the NBN.
Today’s release of the EY Digital Australia: State of the Nation report shows that Australia has slipped another two places in the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The primary reason for this decline is Australia’s slower and more expensive broadband, compared to many of our international peers.
It was only three years ago that a beaming Malcolm Turnbull was traversing the country delivering sermons about how his copper NBN would deliver better services and lower prices for consumers.
Today, EY reports that broadband affordability is Australia’s lowest performing category within the digital readiness index, ranking a depressing 57th place in the world.
When it comes to identifying major concerns about the digital economy, the NBN rollout was cited as the top issue by 82 per cent of digital opinion leaders who identified the speed of the rollout as a major to moderate concern.
Further, confidence that the NBN will help ensure Australia has a world-class digital economy decreased sharply in 2016-17 compared to 2014-15. For consumers, this decreased from 50 to 40 per cent, and for opinion leaders down 60 to 45 per cent.
It is clear that Malcolm Turnbull’s Fraudband, with its flawed multi-technology mix, is not faster or cheaper or more affordable as he promised it would be.
Whether it’s copper or coal, Malcolm Turnbull cannot be trusted on engineering or economics.
