MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY  


TELSTRA 5G ANNOUNCEMENT CONFIRMS LIBERALS’ COPPER NBN WAS ALWAYS A LOSING BET

Telstra has today claimed its 5G service can deliver average download speeds of 378 megabits per second during the 7pm-11pm period.

In comparison, the average speed on a copper NBN connection is 67.7 megabits per second, according prior Questions on Notice data supplied by NBNCo.

Furthermore, three in four copper NBN connections can’t achieve a peak speed of 100 megabits per second, and up to 200,000 premises can’t even achieve 25 megabits per second as required under law.

This begs the question as to why the Liberals and Nationals abandoned Labor’s original fibre plan, and instead ploughed over $50 billion into a second-rate copper NBN.

Earlier this year, a front page report based on leaked documents revealed the Liberals knew back in 2013 that Fibre to the Premises was dramatically cheaper than what they were claiming in public.

Despite having this knowledge, the Liberals kept it secret and misled the public for seven years. Minister Fletcher stopped repeating his false claims after the front page report.

Whether its energy or broadband, the Liberals cannot be trusted when it comes to technology. For them, technology is always about politics, and never about the Australian people.

This is a timely reminder that the incompetence and untrustworthiness of the Morrison-Joyce Government is not costless — it always carries a price.

THURSDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2021

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