Labor’s bungles broadband and regional Australians suffer
16th December, 2008
Labor’s bungled National Broadband Network is in further disarray this week, following the Government’s decision to exclude the bid of Telstra, Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Warren Truss, said today.Mr Truss said delivering fast broadband communications via fibre optic cable to 98 percent of Australians was Labor’s flagship election commitment to regional Australia.
None of the tenders to build the network will go close to delivering on that promise and now that the nation’s biggest telco is out of the running, only a minority of regional consumers are likely to get new fibre to the node broadband.
“On election to office, Labor cancelled the $1 billion OPEL contract which would have been delivering fast broadband services to regional communities by now,” Mr Truss said.
“Labor’s plan is already six months behind schedule and is years away from connecting rural and remote communities.”
Telstra was a reluctant tenderer and are now already out of the race. Mr Truss said Telstra has been the traditional supplier of telecommunications services to regional Australia but the company seems to have lost its commitment to the bush. Too often Telstra has behaved like an arrogant monopoly in its relationships with its customers and the Government.
“Telstra did not submit a conforming tender to the previous Government when $600 million was available to extend high speed broadband services and now they could not agree with the new Government on a way to participate in its plan.”
Mr Truss said regional areas just want the faster broadband speeds Labor promised.
“If the Government’s contribution is to be worth anything, it must be directed to delivering fast broadband speeds to those who don’t have them now. The taxpayers $4.7 billion will be wasted if it simply duplicates fibre optic cables in the cities or delivers slower broadband speeds than are already available.
“Labor has bungled its broadband policy and country Australians are already suffering.”
Mr Truss said the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, owed the people of regional Australia an explanation. Senator Conroy cancelled the OPEL contract but he has nothing to offer regional Australians as an alternative.
