[LINK] Turnbull judging consumer behaviour

[Jan Whitaker]

[$65 for phone and internet at HIGH speed is a bargain. And it means 
that we'll all get something much better than the current blocked 
networks like I have in a metro-zone where the best on offer is 1.5mbps.]


Costly NBN won't click with customers: Turnbull

Clancy Yeates
October 5, 2010 - 3:00AM

SHADOW communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has widened the 
Coalition's attack on the national broadband network (NBN), arguing 
that its costings will limit how many people are willing to take it up.

Mr Turnbull, who has yet to finalise the opposition's policy on 
broadband, also signalled that the Coalition was unlikely to make any 
dramatic shift in its approach to rural broadband.

In an interview with The Age, Mr Turnbull yesterday challenged the 
government's central argument that the NBN would benefit consumers 
through competition.

With the government-owned NBN Co likely to charge retailers about $35 
a month, Mr Turnbull predicted this would result in customers paying 
an average of $65 to $70 a month to access the network.

''That is higher than most people are paying now,'' he said. ''So 
there is no reason to believe that the NBN will deliver cheaper 
broadband. It certainly will deliver faster broadband than many 
people are getting at the moment, but at an extraordinary cost.''

At NBN test sites in Tasmania, plans range from $30 a month to $160 a 
month, depending on speed and download limits.

While the government says the NBN will increase competition between 
retailers, Mr Turnbull argued that creating a government-owned 
monopoly could stifle competition from other types of technology.

A spokeswoman for Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy said that 
competition was already on the increase in Tasmania.

Mr Turnbull accused the government of overestimating the revenue it 
would raise and the number of potential customers.

But the spokeswoman said this had been resolved by an agreement with 
Telstra to close down its copper network and move customers to the NBN.

Mr Turnbull said the Coalition's policy on rural access would be 
''essentially the same'' as its previous stance, which supported a 
subsidy for wireless and satellite web connections in regional areas.

NBN Co is expected to release details of its business case shortly.

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/national/costly-nbn-wont-click-with-customers-turnbull-20101004-164be.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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