Vic Coalition's Rich-Phillips lambasts NBN build

Deloitte report commissioned by Vic Coalition shows demand exceeding supply.

NBN deployment is too sluggish for Victoria’s Coalition Government, according to Technology Minister, Gordon Rich-Phillips.

“The rollout of the NBN is failing to keep pace with demand for high-speed broadband services in Victoria,” Rich-Phillips said after releasing a Deloitte broadband report commissioned by the state government.

The comments about the Labor Party’s broadband build came days after NBN Co announced higher-than-expected costs for the national network.

The Deloitte report (PDF) found 350,000 Victorian households and businesses want faster broadband than is currently available, an increase of 63 per cent over two years. “Much of this unmet demand is a result of the void created in private sector broadband investment since the Commonwealth Labor Government decided to build its own broadband network,” Rich-Phillips said.

“It’s clear the Commonwealth’s rollout plan is not hitting areas where there is strong demand for services or those areas that would benefit most from adequate services,” he said. “Delays in the NBN rollout have resulted in much lower coverage of third wave broadband and have exacerbated unmet demand for these services.”

Rich-Phillips complained that rural Victoria was at a digitial disadvantage compared to metro Melbourne. “Regional centres like Ararat, Benalla, Echuca, Hamilton, Mildura, Portland, Sale, Swan Hill, Wangaratta and Warrnambool have strong demand for high-speed broadband yet are missing out on early access to the NBN and some are unlikely to receive it for another nine years,” he said.

The Deloitte report said Victoria was well covered by slower broadband services.

“Ongoing ADSL infrastructure development means almost all inhabited areas of the State can now access at least 256Kbps services, with unmet demand for broadband at speeds of up to 8Mbps falling to just 12,723 premises state-wide.

“A challenge in the future lies in the extension of faster services,” the report read. “In 2011, ADSL+ and equivalent broadband services had reached 92.8 per cent of households and 92.1 per cent of businesses, representing growth of more than twenty percentage points in coverage compared with two years previously. However, coverage for services above the 50Mbps download speed mark remains low.”

The NBN will bring speeds faster than 50Mbps to Victoria, Deloitte said. “However, it is estimated that two-thirds of households and businesses in Victoria will not have access to the NBN by 2016, meaning levels of unmet demand will be high.”

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Comments

1

vulcon

Mon 13/08/2012 - 17:26

So they change to an opt out method, hoping more victorians will miss out and yet complain its not fast enough, at the same time their Federal counterparts intend to distort it so that no one gets FTTP?

And... lets not forget that Telstra and optus did very little to upgrade beyond basic adsl other then a failed Cable rollout 15 years ago. Sudenly there is a massive drought of spending? It looks more to be bussiness as usual IMHO as the LNP plays politics with our future.

I wonder how the ever silent National Party feel, do they even have an opinion?

2

Frank

Mon 13/08/2012 - 21:18

resulted in much lower coverage of third wave broadband.

What is third wave broadband?

3

Ben

Tue 14/08/2012 - 00:38

So, the Victorian liberals conceed that the demand for higher speed internet is constantly growing, complains that they aren't getting it faster, and yet is the same party fighting for FTTN, the very technolgoy that would severely limit future growth in broadband speeds.

Yes, this is the party I want in parliment </sarcasm>

4

gnome

Tue 14/08/2012 - 12:03

@2 Frank, here is the coalition definition of broadband waves:

- 1st wave: dialup at 2.4kbps
- 2nd wave: dialup at 28.8kbps (wow!)
- 3rd wave: something we don't understand and want to abort, but are loudly complaining is not being delivered fast enough or widely enough.

Hope that helps.

5

Francis Young

Tue 14/08/2012 - 16:23

Hilariously, even after a Tasmanian Liberal MP successfully lobbied in 2010 to overturn the cumbersome opt-in policy there, the Victorian Liberal government imposed opt-in for all Victorians, thereby deliberately ranking itself lower on NBNCo's priority list for early deployment.

Deloitte's report now predicts that Victorian demand for FTTP speeds, currently at 13%, will quadruple by 2016. This makes FTTN pointless to build in areas due to get fibre.

However, since February 2012, when the NBN three year build schedule was published, telcos have resumed building more ADSL into areas not slated to receive early fibre. Again, it was Federal coalition obstruction in delaying the legal framework for a Telstra contract to be signed, which prevented this certainty being available a year earlier, and hence delayed new ADSL rollouts.

It is increasingly obvious that, unless the coalition adopts the NBN, it will suffer losses to independent candidates in regional seats as it did in 2010, and will risk losing a second unloseable election to the crossbenches.

6

Abel Adamski

Tue 14/08/2012 - 21:33

I still have a copy of the Herald Sun with it's ecstatic headline, editorial and comments proclaiming Hewsons Election Victory

7

Abel Adamski

Wed 15/08/2012 - 21:08

I do not think, media editors, jounalists and opinion piece experts or the politicians have really come to grips with technology and the internet.
The statements, comments, article, editorials and opinion pieces can be saved, maybe as PDF files and combined into PDF volumes to be presented on website to hold them to account and expose their competence, credibilty, maybe even provide evidence for class actions.

All would do well to heed the wise words of Bernard Baruch.

“Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.”

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