The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co), the Australian government-owned entity building a national fibre optic broadband network, has frozen its tender and hiring processes until a new government is formed.
NBN Co will continue to operate and…
The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co), the Australian government-owned entity building a national fibre optic broadband network, has frozen its tender and hiring processes until a new government is formed.
NBN Co will continue to operate and plan new operations using existing funds but will seek to minimise any discretionary expenditure, a company spokeswoman told local media.
In the run up to the general election, the Liberal/National coalition had pledged to scrap the Labor government’s A$43bn (US$38.5bn) broadband project and replace it with a A$6.3bn (US$5.5bn) subsidy-based policy. However, election results on August 21 indicated that a hung parliament was likely, with both Labor and the Coalition falling short of the 76 seats required for majority government.
Three Independents may now hold the balance of power to form a new government. Despite having backgrounds in conservative politics, the re-elected Independents are from rural Australia, therefore favouring the government’s plan, according to the Sidney Morning Herald. The newspaper added that it remains unclear whether either party would set up a whole new broadband network policy to attract their support.
NBN Co was formed in 2009 to build fibre optic cabling to about 90% of Australian homes and businesses, capable of delivering speeds of 100 megabits per second. At the end of June, Australian telecoms incumbent Telstra signed a nonbinding agreement to participate in the NBN rollout. Under the terms of the agreement, NBN would pay Telstra about A$11bn (US$9.6bn) in phased payments in return for the decommissioning of Telstra’s copper network and transferring its customers across to a new fibre-optic network.
The remaining 10% of the population not covered by the cable is to be connected by combining next generation high speed wireless and satellite technologies. A few weeks ago, NBN’s chief executive announced that the company would spend about A$1bn (US$872m) on two new Kaband satellites. Speaking at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia’s (CEDA) 2010 ICT Review conference, he explained that the satellites would cost about A$500m each to build, launch and issue.
The Ka-band plan prompted US-based satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems to set up an Australian subsidiary, while nascent Australian satellite operator NewSat recently reaffirmed its intention to be part of the NBN project, despite failing to gain support from the government for its Jabiru satellite project.
