Labor revives hopes for superfast internet

LABOR has promised to give millions of long-suffering internet users faster speeds, attacking the NBN as “slow” and “second-rate”.

If you’re sick and tired of crappy internet connections, Labor is offering a faster NBN.

LABOR has promised to give millions of long-suffering internet users faster speeds while it attacked the present national broadband scheme and its creator, Malcolm Turnbull.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he could deliver a fibre-to-the-premises National Broadband Network to at least 2 million households without adding to the cost of the current copper wire-based scheme, which he would junk.

Labor’s NBN would come in at $57 billion by June 30, 2022, compared to $56 billion under the operation introduced by Mr Turnbull, according to Mr Shorten.

Savings would include elimination of the $650 million maintenance bill of the fragile copper network. The laying of fibre-to-the-node would be phased out by the end of current contracts.

Labor says its NBN would make more money. The present network had been forecast to earn $2.5 billion in 2016-17, but Labor says it would only make $1.1 billion, a 56 per cent shortfall.

The NBN has already figured prominently this election campaign after Australian Federal Police raided the office of Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy and the home if an Opposition staffer last month.

They were investigating embarrassing NBN Co leaks revealing big rollout delays and increasing expenses.

Bill Shorten hopes his NBN plan will be a vote winner.

Labor is presenting faster internet speed as a major infrastructure project essential for business to be competitive in the region, and is pledging to improve Australia’s rating of 60th in the world for internet speeds.

And it will use the issue to attack Malcolm Turnbull’s credibility as a minister and a proponent of innovation.

“In 2013, Malcolm Turnbull scrapped Labor’s world-class fibre-to-the-premises NBN,” Mr Shorten said.

“Instead the Liberals are building a slower, second-rate copper NBN that will leave Australia behind and hamstring our economy into the future.

“The NBN is the most important piece of infrastructure for our economic success in the 21st century.”

Labor specific claims against Mr Turnbull are:

● The cost of the copper network has almost doubled from $29 billion to $56 billion since 2013

● He has failed a promise to give all Australian access to NBN by this year, with the finally delivery date now expected to be 2022

● The Turnbull scheme pushed up the connection cost per household from

$600 to $1600

● The financial return to taxpayers on their original $29.5 billion investment had crashed from 7.1 per cent to as low as 2.7 per cent.

A Labor government would commission Infrastructure Australia to draw up a schedule for where and when its NBN would be installed, including areas now getting fibre-to-the-node that would be converted to connections to the premises.

Labor’s plan will revive fibre-to-the-home connections, which promise faster internet speeds.

All those that would receive a fibre connection would get the same speeds as originally promised, up to 1 gigabit per second, a Labor campaign spokesman said.

“A proper NBN isn’t just about faster downloads, it is about new ways of teaching through virtual classrooms, better healthcare and opening up new markets so Australian small businesses can compete overseas,” Mr Shorten said.

“The opportunities it presents for our country cannot be understated.”

Labor says fibre-to-the-premises is a proven technology while an emerging technology — known as fibre-to-the-distribution-point or “fibre-to-the-driveway” — has the potential to deliver fast and

reliable broadband while reducing customer connection costs.

It says Labor would explore the potential of this is new technology, which has not yet been rolled out at scale.

Labor says the rollout of the hybrid fibre-coaxial connections, which relies on a mix of fibre and coaxial cable used for pay TV, would continue. The party recognised the contracts in place, the substantial capital expenditure already sunk and the constraints placed on future governments by Mr Turnbull in the revised Definitive Agreements.

The rollout of Labor’s fixed wireless and satellite networks, and fibre-to-the-basement, will also continue. Greenfield sites will be delivered with fibre-to-the-premises.