NBN Facing Threat From Mobile Broadband Providers As Rollout Issues Continue

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Article heading image for NBN Facing Threat From Mobile Broadband Providers As Rollout Issues Continue

It appears as though there are more issues for the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout, with it revealed that mobile broadband is a real threat to the success of the system.

According to NBN chief executive Bill Morrow, not only are the costs from retail service providers not covering the outlay for NBN installation, but only one fifth of households are getting the direct fibre connections.

This means that most households are being hooked up to older technology, such as copper wire, according to Ten News.

“We collect about $43 per month from retail service providers for each home they sell into. In order to recover costs, we need $52,” Mr Morrow said on the ABC's Four Corners.

“We, NBN and the board, are betting that future applications are going to bring more value into homes, that they are going to need more bandwidth or more data and that the retail service providers will pay us more.

“It’s a bet we’ve taken. If it doesn’t come together, we’ve got a problem.”

Further, it was also noted that competitors in the form of 4G internet are a threat to the project, with mobile data seen as a substitute for failing home internet.

“The NBN was a calamitous train wreck of a project when we came into government in 2013. Billions and billions of dollars were wasted by Labor, and there was no way to get them back,” Prime Minister Turnbull said.

“We have done the best we can getting that program on track. It is on track in terms of the rollout… but there have been real problems both with the installation experience and with people not getting speeds of what they paid for.

“We are very, very focussed on improving on both of those accounts.”

23 October 2017




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