The cost of getting fast fibre broadband to the home is set to drop by up to 30% to $66 a month if the Coalition is elected in September, also set to fall is the cost of rolling out the network which under Labor was tipped to spiral to $90 Billion.A new Coalition broadband policy set to be revealed today claims that consumers will pay 30 per cent less than Labor’s current plan with similar speeds of between 50Mbps and 100Mbps.
The cost of the network is also set to fall to a forecast cost of $29 Billion this is $15 Billion cheaper that Labor’s current projected cost and more than $60 billion cheaper than what the Coalition claims the current Labor government’s policy will actually end up costing.
Later today Shadow Communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull is set to outline a new policy that will deliver the NBN at half the cost, and up to six years earlier and with same speed internet speeds as what is currently planned by Labor.
They will also promise to deliver the project by 2019 – between two and six years ahead of the government’s schedule – and reprioritise the NBN rollout to tackle regions with the poorest internet services first.
The Daily Telegraph has reported that by using a mix of technologies, the Coalition claims it would be able to deliver a comparable broadband rate of between 25Mbps and 100Mbps by as early as 2016, rising to between 50Mbps and 100Mbps by 2019.
The Opposition claim that they plan to use fibre to the node (FTTN) technology, rather than the government’s fibre to the premises (FTTP) model, it claims to be able to deliver cheaper services to the majority of the 12 million Australians using existing copper lines and wireless to connect the final and most expensive component of the NBN to the home.
Claiming it did not want “pensioners to subside the internet services of the rich”, the Coalition claims that by putting fibre to a node in the street or the basement of an apartment block it would bring down the overall cost for all Australian taxpayers and internet customers.
Businesses and wealthy homeowners who want the premium NBN service can choose to complete the final fibre link and pay for the premium service themselves under a “fibre on demand” policy.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said: “Only the Coalition can do this in a cost-effective way which means that it will be more affordable for all Australians. We think it is very important that Australians have access to fast, affordable broadband but they shouldn’t have to wait until 2025 to get the benefits.”
