When it comes to the NBN.
The government needs to step in and address the mountain problems surrounding the NBN but in reality this will not eventuate until after the Federal Election, according to industry analyst, Paul Budde.
“Any new government will need to first examine this with a group of truly independent experts, and not hand-picked political favourites,” he said.
Budde reckons any incoming government can, with the stroke of a pen, create a situation where people can use higher speeds at an affordable price on the NBN as it exists today. “But for this to happen the complex wholesale pricing will need to be simplified. The incoming government could just do that, and this would make higher speed services available at more affordable prices.”
Global broadband network analyst Ookla currently puts Australia in the number 60 spot in the international ladder of broadband speeds. “There have been arguments that this ranking had something to do with the way the list was produced but it doesn’t really matter whether we are in position 60, 55, or even 40. We are so far down the list that any of those ratings are an embarrassment for the country.”
He said there are still a large number of NBN connections that have been put in the too-hard basket many in relation to the HFC cable problems the company is facing. This put the overall reliability of the NBN in several states below the ACCC standard.
Budde was involved in the initial strategies around the NBN and believed a Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) infrastructure was needed because of the social and economic benefits.
“Australia has never properly addressed why we implemented the NBN and as a consequence not properly linked the national benefits to the business and financial models. We need to come back to this with bipartisan support based on the national interest, not on party politics.
“At the moment retail service providers (RSPs) have to employ extra specialist resources to understand the myriad of complicated wholesale pricing options that the NBN has wrought together. As a result, the low-cost entry is now too expensive for RSPs to offer this option to their customers. At the same time the higher speeds options remain too expensive for many users. This is contrary to the spirit of the NBN, that it should provide all Australians with affordable high-speed broadband services.”