Gillard to reveal NBN plan "summary"

By Ry Crozier on Nov 24, 2010 2:04 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

New document created from the secret plan.

The Federal Government has announced it will release a summary of the NBN Co business plan before seeking a final Senate vote on the Telstra split bill.

Read a 36-page NBN business plan summary document here.

The breakthrough was achieved by key independent Senator Nick Xenophon in eleventh hour negotiations with Prime Minister Julia Gillard today.

"We will shortly be releasing a document that summarises the NBN Co business case," Gillard said.

"We're determined it is possible to release carefully selected material that answers some of the [independents and crossbenchers'] key questions and allow them to explain their decision [on the Telstra split bill] to their constituents.

"We've been very careful. The material being released will not cause market uncertainty."

Gillard said the document confirmed the NBN was being built on a financially-viable basis. It would include details of the products NBN Co would offer and on what timelines; however, it did not contain details such as "places retail providers will be able to plug into the NBN" - the points of interconnect, which were under ACCC consideration.

The document would be provided to Senators Xenophon and Fielding first before it was made public.

Senator Steve Fielding had reportedly welcomed the release of the plan, according to reports on ABC News 24, although it was unclear whether or not he would support the passage of the Telstra split bill.

Fielding and Xenophon's votes were crucial for the Telstra split legislation to pass.

Xenophon said that he would characterise the release of the document as a "compromise", not a "backdown" by Labor.

He said he was "grateful" for Gillard's intervention on the NBN business plan.

"I don't think we would have got to this stage if not for her intervention," he said.

He refused to criticise the Communications Minister over his stance not to release the NBN business plan until next month.

It also appeared Xenophon had won a concession on Productivity Commission involvement in the NBN project, stating the Commission would "be there to give continual input" to the Government over the eight years of the network's construction.

16 comments in this discussion

"@DEFCON1, what is it about a Fibre To The Premises network that you do not understand?"

By anonymous

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Comments: 16

RDEFCON1 Nov 24, 2010 2:48 PM	Love the expression on Conroy's face in the photo above. He does NOT look happy with Gillard!
HubertCumberdale Nov 24, 2010 3:42 PM	awww, mine is missing 14 pages :(
rycrozier Nov 24, 2010 4:27 PM	Yes we've revised the number down given the actual size.
utedog Nov 24, 2010 4:35 PM	Surely this is even more proof that there is stuff in the real report that the government doesn't want us to know, since they'll release a snippet but not the whole lot. My trust of them is decreasing daily (not that there was a whole lot to begin with mind you).
Graeme Harrison (prof at-symbol post.harvard.edu) Nov 24, 2010 7:52 PM	I guess from now on ASIC will allow public companies to publish just part of their accountant's opinion, leaving out the reservations the accountant might have had. And let's have the Australian Electoral Commission report on whether an election was free and fair be just a summary provided by the government, or let the government "summarise" any report on misuse of election funding. Let's make the government provide the report to Parliament. We've had five decades of major decisions being removed from the House of Reps decision, or Senate review, contrary to the intention of the establishment of the two houses. If the authors have their private mobile numbers in the final para, then let them black out such personal information, but the rest ought be available... and a "government summary" is just not acceptable. The whole NBN project has been argued in Orwellian terms (1984) without substance. There would be widespread support for at least the 85% that makes sense, if people did not think that the facts were being hidden by the government. The only issue that needs widespread discussion is whether the fibre-to-wireless cutover ought be 85% (say) instead of 93%, to see what the take-up is before we do the lowest-payback one-acre block outer-urban fringes. And now that the government is talking of a compulsory monopoly, the only other thing to discuss is what is the maximum ROI allowed, to prevent price gouging by the government (like NSW and Vic water fees for their desal frivolities).
umbria Nov 24, 2010 10:50 PM	Great to see that Senators Xenophon and Fielding are now voting in favour of the Telstra structural separation bill! Telstra's share price will double within a year once it is freed of the burdens of copper maintenance and the universal service obligation. Whether or not the government will learn the lesson that it must communicate better remains to be seen. An locally run education campaign in Armidale saw practically 100% takeup of the NBN there, but there is a huge knowledge vacuum in which Messrs Turnbull and Joyce are sowing mischief. Oh, and Graeme, if you are who I think you are, we realise you are a vendor of a communications product, but such cynicism! We wish you well with it now that you will have access to the same level playing field as the big boys.
djzort Nov 24, 2010 11:27 PM	Sorry when was the point of the NBN to put big telcos out of business? I thought it was (is) still an election stunt gone horribly wrong? The reality is that with some thoughtful new legislation, private industry will quickly and cheaply (for the tax payer and consumer) improve coverage and speeds. Unfortunately such legislation wouldnt make Conroy a national hero (or jackass as he is becoming currently) and will force Jilliard to address real issues in australia.
dubious Nov 25, 2010 9:24 AM	I'm impressed by anyone out there capable of digesting a business case that has MORE than 36 pages in it, and discerning whether it's cost/benefit figures are a crock or not, let alone anyone who could read the full document and do the same. Politics aside (which is let's face it where the real work gets done) the infrastructure which should have always remained separated from the privatised retailer, will finally be thus - that might be one of the Gillard Governments only significant achievements… Well done if they succeed, as I for one am over Telstra's stranglehold on the premium or ONLY service in many areas!
RDEFCON1 Nov 25, 2010 10:00 AM	@djzort - no, NBN is about dividing and destroying one big telco, and replacing it with another. @dubious - so you're over Telstra's stranglehold on infrastructure. How long until you get over NBN Co.'s? If you think creating a new monopoly will somehow create competition - you're dreaming. We have 'retail-only' competition in gas and electricity in Victoria, but that doesn't give consumers any real choice. Without competitive infrastructure, competition is a farce.
anonymous Nov 25, 2010 11:03 AM	@RDEFCON1: "Without competitive infrastructure, competition is a farce." Well said. You are of course referring to the situation during the last twenty years when one monopolist was able to use anti-competitive gaming to choke competition and get away with very high charges for service ranging from mediocre to poor.
dubious Nov 25, 2010 11:04 AM	@RDEFCON1, you may be correct, but I don't think so. Be aware that ~70% of your ever increasing energy bills are the service availability charges (passed through on ALL bilss regardless of Retailer), which are justified by submissions to IPART based on the need to maintain and grow the NETWORK? But your proposed alternative is to duplicate much of the pathway and exchange infrastructure that we already paid to dig and build prior to telstra being sold?
RDEFCON1 Nov 25, 2010 12:03 PM	@anonymous - actually, yes and no. I'm referring to the last twenty years, and the next fifty. NBN will change nothing from a competition standpoint. The incentive to continue to invest and upgrade with stay at near-zero. And of course, the monopoly service provider will continue to exhibit and appalling service ethos. We're just swapping the devil we know, for one we don't.
RDEFCON1 Nov 25, 2010 12:08 PM	@dubious - you read too much into my comment. All I said was that the pretense of competition in the absence of diverse infrastructure is a farce. I didn't actually argue for duplication. Of course the interesting thing is that NBN Co actually is providing duplication. A new fibre infrastructure alongside the old copper infrastructure. But no, why use the copper as competitive infrastructure when you can rip it out and throw it away!
RB Nov 25, 2010 12:54 PM	What is interesting is that in May 2009 the government said it had committed $4.7B out of $43B to an 8-year project to build NBN. We're now 18 months later the project is going to cost $49B (with the Telstra payment) and the project still has 11 years to go. It's not off to a very good start.
KarL Nov 25, 2010 2:37 PM	And when they cannot rip it. They use Wireless. Hah hah hah hah. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/239650,nbn-co-to-build-wireless-network-from-late-2011.aspx
anonymous Nov 25, 2010 2:51 PM	@DEFCON1, what is it about a Fibre To The Premises network that you do not understand?