Opposition broadband plans described as ‘half baked’

The attempts of the opposition in Australia to put together some sort of national broadband policy has been described in a recent report as being ‘half baked’.

According to a recent report, the Opposition in Australia is fumbling to put together what is described as a ‘half baked’ national broadband policy that would see vouchers being introduced for regional Australians. The plans have been slated by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy.

It is claimed that the voucher scheme would see the elimination of cross subsidy to regional Australia and would see people placed at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to getting decent broadband services at realistic prices.

Conroy said: “Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull want to treat regional Australians like second class citizens. They want to abolish the cross-subsidy to regional Australia and force regional people to pay more for second rate services.”  He said that the plans had no substance with regards to their viability and would result in technical ghettos being created.

Conroy went on to say: “The Coalition’s plan would be to stop the NBN’s progress in its tracks and substitute it with an inferior, patchwork network that is cobbled together with bits and pieces of outdated and worn out copper infrastructure that will deliver a substandard and more costly service to many Australians. Under the Gillard Government’s rollout of the NBN, 93 per cent of Australian premises will receive world class fibre to the home technology. Mr Turnbull claims his plan will be more cost effective and that any costs resulting from changes to the NBN would be dwarfed by the savings. But he hasn’t even put a cost on his proposal. He needs to stop misleading the Australian public and come clean on costs. Mr Turnbull keeps talking about the Productivity Commission doing a cost-benefit analysis if the Coalition won Government. But he is on record saying that even if a cost-benefit analysis for the NBN came back unequivocally positive, he couldn’t guarantee the Opposition’s support.”

Source – DBCDE