The Government Celebrates Release Of NBN Plan
Telecommunication companies and consumer groups say households should be encouraged by the blueprint for the national broadband network, which they claim will inject much-needed competition into the industry.
After the NBN Co yesterday published its long-awaited business plan, industry groups welcomed the government-owned company’s promise of wholesale services at a uniform price.
The network - to become a monopoly supplier of high-speed broadband - is intended to break Telstra’s stranglehold on the industry as the biggest retailer and wholesaler.
Yesterday’s business case said the most basic package, offering users access at 12 megabits a second, would be sold to retailers for $24 a month, with higher prices for faster speeds and larger download limits.
Smaller players in the industry had complained that Telstra hurt their chances of competing by charging excessive fees for access to its fixed-line copper network.
The Competitive Carriers Coalition, a group of smaller telecommunications firms, welcomed the fact that all competitors would now be charged the same rate under the NBN.
”At long last the most efficient operators will prosper. That is not the case in the current world,” the coalition’s chairman, Matt Healy, said.
The chief executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Teresa Corbin, said the fixed wholesale fee would force retailers and internet service providers to work harder to earn peoples’ business.
As well, Ms Corbin said access to the network would provide people with a range of services, and retailers were expected to sell more elaborate product ”bundles” than they do today.
”The NBN box will have a socket to plug in your phone and port for your computer and lots of other spare ports for security, entertainment - applications that we haven’t even dreamed of yet,” she said.
However, the plan for a government monopoly has raised concerns in other quarters, with the opposition claiming the network will crowd out other types of technology such as wireless.