MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY


NBN WASTE: FLETCHER MAKES ANOTHER HUMILIATING AND COSTLY BACKFLIP TO FULL-FIBRE
 

NBNCo has been forced to admit it must hurl more taxpayer money to build Fibre to the Premises because it has failed to deliver on its Fibre to the Curb promise.

As noted in CommsDay, “NBNCo is moving away from its G.fast upgrade plans, telling retail service providers that it plans to enable its one million customers on the fibre-to-the-curb network with access to 250Mbps+ speeds via an FTTP upgrade”.

For three years, NBNCo has repeatedly stated its Fibre to the Curb deployment was going to deliver speeds of 1000 megabits per second.

On 23 September 2020, Minister Fletcher told the National Press Club the Fibre to the Curb network would “deliver consistent speeds across this technology up to 100Mbps and then enable on-demand access to G.Fast capability to boost speeds to up to 1 Gbps”.

Yet NBNCo is now in another abrupt and costly retreat, saying it must spend more money to upgrade Fibre to the Curb to Fibre to the Premises for households that order speeds of 250 megabits per second. 

In other words, the remaining copper is presumably of such poor quality that Fibre to the Curb cannot reliably deliver a quarter of what Minister Fletcher promised.

This is occurring at a time when household Fibre to the Curb modems are repeatedly frying and failing during lightning storms because the Fibre to the Curb network wasn’t designed properly.

The Liberals have now abandoned Fibre to the Node, made a mess of hybrid fibre coaxial, and stuffed up Fibre to the Curb. Only one technology is working as it should: Labor’s Fibre to the Premises.

How on earth did a management team presiding over this mess get away with awarding itself $77 million in corporate bonuses during an economic recession? 

FRIDAY, 14 MAY 2021