On 7 April 2009, the Rudd Labor Government announced that it would build the National Broadband Network (NBN) – an information ‘super-highway’, “the single largest nation building infrastructure project in Australian history”.
Instead of the original $4.7 billion fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) model Labor promised at the 2007 election, PM Kevin Rudd and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced on this day in 2009 that Australia would get a $43 billion fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) model.
The NBN was slated for completion in 8 years (by 2017) and housed in a new “off-balance sheet” government business enterprise (GBE) called “NBN Co.” – run by trusted and loyal CEO appointment, Mike Quigley. The then Labor government argued that within 5 years of completing the build, this new GBE with its “world-class” super asset would be sold, with the proceeds benefiting all Australians.
While the $4.7 billion NBN election commitment was a thought bubble, legend has it that the subsequent $43 billion NBN plan was largely conceived on the back of a napkin (or beer coaster) on a VIP jet flight the PM was taking to Perth.
Towards the end of the chaotic Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era (4 years later, in 2013), the NBN was in trouble. Budgets were blowing out, the roll-outs were behind schedule, connection prices were exorbitant, speeds were disappointing and the Telstra pits for the cabling had asbestos.
The incoming Abbott-Coalition Government found that Labor’s unrealistic, rolled-gold FTTP model was blowing out by more than double, both in terms of cost and completion date ($94 billion cf $43 billion and late 2020s cf 2017). Their pragmatic response was to use a multi-technology mix (MTM) – including fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) cabling and wireless technologies – to rein in costs and completion dates.
This more pragmatic approach returned the expected NBN cost back to $49 billion and its completion date to 2020, with government borrowing of $29.5 billion to help fund the venture towards commercial viability.
Today, with 5G around the corner, the NBN is looking quite short of ‘world class’ and a liability which the government may need to write-down and bring on-budget.
Recognise this significant event in Australian telecommunications policy by:
- reflecting on the futility of governments and bureaucrats trying to pick winners in the fast-moving and unpredictable technological space
- giving a tick to the Abbott-Turnbull Governments for reining in the NBN’s cost and scheduling blowouts inherited from Labor – it was never going to be easy to “polish this proverbial“
- shopping around for the best internet bundle for your household
- commenting on our Facebook post about your experience with pre- and post NBN connections and how they compare with the cost, reliability and convenience of your current 4G mobile broadband (outside of Netflix downloading), and/or
- sharing this Action Plan post on social media with family, friends and those you interact with over the internet.
