Network chief says often your computer problems are the fault of the retailers, not them

COMPLAINTS about the National Broadband Network are through the roof. But its CEO says the NBN isn’t always to blame for slow speeds.

If your NBN is slow, don’t blame the NBN. Says the NBN.

IF YOUR broadband speed is at a crawl or occasionally drops out completely don’t yell at the National Broadband Network. Not automatically, anyway.

NBN chief executive Bill Morrow believes his company too often is blamed for failures which have been the fault of retain service providers (RSPs) who onsell his product.

One retailer can get top marks from customers while another, using the same NBN service, can be marked down by their clients because they aren’t as good at running their end of the network.

Mr Morrow has told a Senate committee the finger-pointing often is in the wrong direction, although occasionally both are responsible.

But the creation of the broadband network was so swift and vast that the NBN was being blamed for almost everything, he told the committee last night.

“Many end-users are confused as to who does what and the industry — including us — must do a better job in providing that clarity,” Mr Morrow said.

“In going through some of the customer complaints, it’s clear there is too much finger pointing and sometimes it is us and sometimes it is the retailer.

NBN CEO Bill Morrow.

“But more often than not, the end-user feels like they get the run around.

“Again, this is an industry-wide issue that cannot be fixed by NBN alone. Some retailers are taking strong action already and it shows in the end-user satisfaction scores.

“For example, we have one retailer with very high scores and another at the other end of the scale, both using the same portion of the NBN network and the same NBN processes to activate a user.”

The NBN reach often is far less than that of an RSP, he said, “only a small fraction of the end-to-end network that connects an end-user to their internet content or the other end of the telephone”.

“For example, in some cases NBN is just the last 10-15 kilometres, but the retailers have a far greater stretch of network that must be invested in and maintained to support the user experience,” he told the committee.

“Failure to do so results in a reduction of speed, packet drop outs, or a call not going through. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the process of having the service turned on, or the speed observed, or even the reliability of the end-to-end network is both the work of a chosen retailer and of NBN.”

Official base figures from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman show NBN complaints had increased by 120 per cent. However, Mr Morrow said, as a proportion of end users the figure had dropped by 12 per cent.

More than 4.2 million premises can now access the NBN.

Mr Morrow said more than 4.2 million premises across the country can now order a service, which was more than a third of the country. NBN was on track to pass the half way point in the

middle of this year and will extend that to three-quarters a year from then.

“We are beginning to punch above 70,000 new homes in just a single week and we expect

this will continue to climb,” he said.

“Four out of five of all homes and business in the country are now either in design, construction, or can already order a service. This accelerating pace is important but equally so is keeping

the cost per premises in line with expectation and once again, we are either on or better

than budget.”