NBN a policy-free zone: iiNet

BUSINESS productivity and job creation is being ignored in NBN policy in favour of media download speeds, iiNet claims.

IINET, the nation's third-largest internet provider, has described the National Broadband Network as a "policy vacuum", saying faster download speeds are not enough to justify the build and insisting on a new set of objectives to guide the ambitious project.

In a submission to the Senate Select Committee on the NBN, which is holding a public hearing in Perth today, iiNet has called for an urgent rethink on what the high-speed network should achieve.

"iiNet does not believe that downloading songs faster or being able to connect multiple televisions should be the drivers of national infrastructure," iiNet regulatory chief Steve Dalby wrote in the submission.

iiNet said the NBN policy should establish a clear set of objectives that focused on productivity, job creation, export opportunities, and improved regional, industry and competition outcomes.

"Successive governments have struggled to communicate concrete reasons for an investment in NBN," the submission stated.

"Debate has continued to focus on download speeds for domestic entertainment.

"The Australian public, and it seems the parliament, appears to be unsure why the NBN is being built and so discussions are still mired in the operational issues of costs, timetables and technology, rather than national benefits."

The Coalition is scaling back Labor's original fibre-based NBN and is deploying fibre to cabinets on street corners that will connect to Telstra's copper network and link into homes.

Under this mixed-technology approach, NBN Co will need to access the copper and cable networks, which will be preserved and upgraded to offer better broadband services.

The Coalition has pledged to provide 91 per cent of homes with download speeds of 50Mbps broadband speeds by 2019 through a mix of fibre-optic cabling and the existing copper and cable networks.

But Mr Dalby slammed the Coalition's Strategic Review that recommended this approach, saying the report failed to address 'National Objectives' or the importance of upload speeds which are needed by businesses to connect with customers who are increasingly shifting their spend for goods and services to online channels.

"Nowhere in the strategic review is there any consideration of upload performance to the small business sector of the economy, or at all. Any business utilising broadband will confirm that upload performance is 'mission critical' and yet little attention has been given to this issue, which is strategically important to the Australian digital economy," Mr Dalby said.

"Arguments over the comparative download speeds of competing technologies has absolutely failed the Australian community. Without a supply-side review, focused on service creation and delivery, Australian consumers will have little reason to acquire high performance services. Given that the Australian political leadership fails to promote this fundamental issue, it is likely that a residentially focused, download-centric strategy for trivial entertainment consumption will be the best that the Australian digital economy can hope for."

My Dalby also criticised the NBN Co for its insistence on setting a fixed number of retail services to sell to broadband wholesalers like iiNet. He said NBN Co's insistence to control the design of retail internet services meant providers were unable to respond to customer demands for evolving internet services.