Musk map show’s Albo’s $3 billion problem

A staggering new map of Australia shows how the nation has been turned on its head by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The world’s most powerful tech bro Elon Musk has a new battle with the Australian government on his hands.

First it was Anthony Albanese’s plan to restrict social media access for children that drew the ire of the Tesla boss, but now the battlelines are being drawn over internet access Down Under.

While the date for the upcoming federal election is not yet clear, the Prime Minister is already setting up for the campaign trail by dropping some big promises.

Earlier this month, he promised his government — if re-elected — will inject $3 billion into Australia’s government-owned National Broadband Network to upgrade homes on the “outdated” copper network and ensure all Australians have access to “fast, reliable and affordable broadband”.

The Prime Minister said the NBN — a project started under Kevin Rudd’s government — was “essential national infrastructure” and would allow more than 11 million homes and businesses access to speeds of 1 gigabyte-per-second, once the work was complete.

“Families and businesses deserve high-speed internet at an affordable price,” he said.

“Labor created the National Broadband Network and only Labor will finish the NBN and importantly, keep the NBN in public hands.”

However, a lot has changed in the world since Mr Rudd was running the country.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is backing the NBN big time. Picture: NewsWire/ Sharon Smith

Since then, Mr Musk has revolutionised internet access the world over through a company he owns a major stake in — Starlink.

Starlink uses satellite technology to provide internet service to some of the world’s most isolated and remote areas.

Aussies turn to Starlink

Australia is home to more than its fair share of remote communities and fed-up Aussies have been turning to Mr Musk’s company.

Many in rural areas have found the service slow or patchy, have turned to the US company to stay connected.

Starlink claimed in 2024 that more than 200,000 Australians were now connected via its low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

The NBN Co — that increased its customer base by just 0.58 per cent last year to 8.61 million homes and businesses — faces being undermined by Starlink.

Aussies with NBN pay $105 a month for packages using fibre to deliver download speeds of about 50 megabits per second in peak times, while Starlink costs about $139 a month for download speeds from 20 to 100 megabits per second over satellite. Starlink customers also have to pay $599 to get themselves set up with hardware.

Mr Albanese’s new pledge would give 95 per cent of Australia fibre NBN access by the end of 2030 — meaning the remaining 5 per cent of the country without fibre access in rural areas — would still need services such as Starlink.

A map showing the location of Starlink satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Starlink could gain customers in areas that were poorly served by slower copper lines, but the satellite company could not match the “equity” of the NBN.

“It’s not an equity product. It has a higher set-up cost. It does have higher ongoing costs, which some people are willing to pay for,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“But that does not align with the mission of the NBN, which has always been about providing equality of opportunity between metro and regional areas.”

She also said Starlink had to turn down customers in some areas that were already heavily served by the low-Earth-orbiting satellites because they had reached capacity.

“There’s only so many birds in that constellation that can be above a particular place in the sky at any given time,” she said.

“So while it does fulfil the needs of some customers, it’s not suitable to all.”

According to its own website, Starlink is currently “sold out” in a portion of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales, including Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

NBN in strife

Labor has been pushing for full-fibre connections since 2009 when the rollout began, but Coalition governments struck deals to have the fibre NBN cables connected to nodes then linked to existing and ageing copper phone lines, which are not able to the same internet speeds.

The Coalition has said it “won’t stand in the way” of Mr Albanese’s new pledge.

However, NBN Co is facing big financial problems — mainly its enormous debt and the fact it posted losses of $1.4 billion last year — and the Coalition has criticised the government for allowing broadband prices to rise during a cost of living crisis.

NBN Co provides a wholesale service and relies on resellers such as Telstra and Optus to set prices for customers.

Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk. Picture: Christopher Furlong / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The company spent $891 million last year just to pay off the interest on its debt, and that is increasing with every year. It has $42.5 billion in total liabilities, compared to $38.8 billion in assets.

However, it is being backed massively by the Albanese government and the NBN Co will also foot an additional $800 million to finish the project, which will upgrade the fibre-to-node network and provide an additional 622,000 fibre access connections across the country.

The updates were slated to be completed by 2030 and would result in about 95 per cent of remaining premises being upgraded from “outdated copper connections”.

“Let’s be clear, the copper network is degrading. The performance is getting worse by an estimated 4 per cent each year and it needs to be dealt with,” Ms Rowland said.

But as increasing numbers of Australians turn to private companies like Starlink, the NBN and the use of taxpayer money to prop it up will come under increasing scrutiny.

It is also possible that other companies, such as Amazon in the US and satellite competitors in Europe and Asia, will also provide additional competition to Starlink in the coming years — in turn piling more pressure on the NBN.

Warning on Musk

Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde told the ABC it was possible the NBN would partner with satellite services such as Starlink in future, as its own Skymuster satellites were ageing.

However, he warned Australia about giving Mr Musk — a key figure in the new Donald Trump administration in the US — too much power over its internet access.

Mr Musk has become an increasingly divisive figure in recent months as he has waded into geopolitical issues. He called for the imprisonment of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and suggested America “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”.

“He is a volatile person,” Mr Budde said. “So yes, that will be very, very scary what happens in the future with Starlink as a company with this CEO.”

US President Donald Trump. Picture: Mandel NGAN / AFP

He has warned that if Mr Musk got angry with Australia “for one reason or another, he could shut the whole thing [Starlink] down”.

Mr Albanese meanwhile claims the future is bright for the NBN and that sizeable investments into it would provide an excellent return for Aussies.

“The investment in a public NBN creates private sector activity and private sector investment that allows the economy to grow,” he said.

NBN Co chief executive Ellie Sweeney said “Australians were consuming more data than ever before” and the $3 billion upgrade would take place in about 2400 suburbs and towns.

“With something like 20 million Australians using the NBN network every day, having a robust and reliable future ready internet connection is more important than ever,” she said.

“The nation relies on NBN and we carry more than 80 per cent of internet traffic today.”

In late 2024, Labor began steps to legislate the public ownership of the NBN, with the Bill set to go to the Senate when parliament sits in February.

Originally published as Musk map show’s Albo’s $3 billion problem