Coalition unveils $6b broadband policy

The Coalition will wind up the National Broadband Network, sell off its assets and replace it with a mix of fibre backhaul, wireless and an optimised copper network, Opposition communications spokesman Tony Smith said. 

In its NBN alternative unveiled today, the Coalition would ditch the provision of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and if elected leave it to the market to decide what broadband services Australians will get in the future.

The Coalition wants to stimulate telcos like Telstra, Optus and others to install last-mile networks by providing backhaul that it says can service about 97 percent of the Australian population.

"We are not doing what the Government is doing," Opposition communications minister Tony Smith said.

Unveiling the plan, Smith and Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb faced a hostile reception in Canberra, which would see the Coalition spend closer to $6 billion on a national broadband strategy, compared to the $43 billion committed to the NBN by a re-elected Labor Government.

Backhaul lease

The Coalition committed to spend "up to $2.75 billion" creating a backhaul network that it said would enable telecommunications providers to enter areas of Australia where it "was uncommercial to go today".

The commitment would rely on the private sector also stumping up at least $750 million, Robb said.

The backhaul network was anticipated to cover some 60,000 to 70,000 km but may not be ready until at least 2016/17.

The Coalition anticipated that much of it wouldn't need to be built, just leased from its current owner under threat of having their network overbuilt using taxpayer money.

Interim measures

In the meantime, the Coalition said it would spend "up to $750 million" on what it called "fixed broadband optimisation".

It explained that this would involve committing funding to upgrade Telstra exchanges or otherwise enable faster speeds in areas where the existing copper network couldn't deliver.

Smith promised that "optimisation" of the DSL network would happen "in the first year" of a Coalition Government, but could not say how many people would benefit.

He said that everyone else would get access to a "wireless" service that offered a "baseline measure... of 12 Mbps peak speeds".

The Coalition said it would provide a $1 billion grant for the wireless network to be installed in rural and regional Australia, but would rely on private sector funding to fill any gaps.

The plan also committed another $1 billion in funding to roll out a metro wireless network "which will principally deal with problems in outer metropolitan Australia."