50Mbps, 500GB on NBN may cost $81 retail
Summary: A basic 12 megabit per second (Mbps) connection on the National Broadband Network will cost telecommunications wholesalers $24 per month, according to the business plan released today, although the plan could only estimate retail pricing.
A basic 12 megabit per second (Mbps) connection on the National Broadband Network will cost telecommunications wholesalers $24 per month, according to the business plan released today, although the plan could only estimate retail pricing.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the press conference in Canberra this morning(Screenshot by Josh Taylor/ZDNet Australia)
The details were revealed in the NBN Co three-year corporate plan released by the Federal Government earlier today. Under the pricing model, a basic service of 12Mbps downlink and 1Mbps uplink for either fibre, wireless or satellite connectivity will cost retail service providers $24 per month.
Pricing for higher speeds available on fibre was also included in the document, with the maximum downlink speed of 1 gigabit per second priced at $150 per month for wholesale providers.
The document makes comparisons between NBN wholesale pricing and that available for domestic ADSL, fibre and wireless broadband.
The company said in the plan that access seekers could find lower prices on the National Broadband Network for similar speeds and download products. Comparing NBN pricing to international wholesale pricing, the plan found that pricing for the NBN was "in line" with current international pricing.
At a press conference this morning, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said it would be difficult to compare the wholesale prices with what is on offer from the NBN.
(Credit: NBN Co)
"There isn't a national uniform wholesale price to compare it," he said. "This isn't an apples-with- apples comparison."
The document stated that prices are expected to go down over time. And Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the government also would expect prices to be reduced.
"The NBN has factored in wholesale prices coming down over time in real and nominal terms," she said.
Although basic wholesale pricing is now known, there is no certainty about what retail service providers might offer to consumers on the NBN. An additional charge of around $1 per user was estimated in backhaul costs for service providers to bring services from the NBN points of interconnect to the consumer.
Although there were no set download limits mentioned in the document, it did estimate that a basic 12Mbps downlink/1Mbps uplink plan on the NBN with a 50GB download limit would cost around $56 while a customer on a 50Mbps downlink/20Mbps uplink service would expect to pay around $81 for 500GB of downloads per month.
Conroy was at pains to state at the conference that the new powers granted to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as part of the telco reform legislation would ensure uniform pricing in Australia. Gillard said that competition would be key to ensuring low retail prices on the NBN.
"Retail prices will be set by the retail market, but it's just a golden rule that the more competition you have the better the prices," Gillard said.
For Twisted Wire this week, Phil Dobbie will be looking at the NBN Corporate Plan released today. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share? If so, call 02 8006 1257 anytime between now and lunchtime tomorrow (Tuesday, 21 December), leave your name and record your message. It'll be included in this week's podcast, which is coming out a day early (on Wednesday).
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Talkback
Unfortuntally I have not read the document as yet, however I was wondering if it makes mention to the access cost for a pensioner or health care card holder, if there is a rebate or if it is subsidized etc.
Thanks!
I didn't see anything about pensioners in the business case. The NBN Co is only providing wholesale, I'd say any similar discounts would have to be nutted out through the retail service provider.
Suzanne Tindal
News Editor
It may not appear too impressive to you Phil, but to those on RIMs/dial up on a whopping 64Kbps (as opposed to 50 Mpbs)... and those on expensive Telstra only wireless etc probably, would probably be very impressed!
But who cares about them eh? You (and I) are ok and that's all that matters...!
I could quite easily live the next 10 years with a 40mbps upload (and with the potential at launch for a much higher uplink). This would make my work far simpler and more profitable (as opposed to the pain that is 0.8mbps upload).
I'm curious where all these retail price numbers have come from. Surely it depends on the monthly download quota and the margins that RSPs are willing to accept to remain competitive ... surely knowledge not available to media commentators, if for no other reason than the RSPs probably haven't even decided it.
Also it seems, and I might have gotten this wrong, that the NBN are going to take over the landline phone business and not charge handset rental. So that should be factored into monthly expenses, assuming your household still uses a landline.
even if retail was upto $100 per month, it is worth it due to fibre itself, on top of this provides next house owner guaranteed access.
So 18% cheaper, and 9 times faster...sounds good to me!
And those speeds are nominated to be avialable between the NBN nodes.
The guaranteed rate (CIR) is only 1mps on the 12 mbs plan. sourced from a presentation to AIIA by M Quigley 12th August 2010.
If I have that wrong let me know?
I can hear all those 'forced migration' customers of Telstra and Optus saying "no thanks, can we stick with what we have please? - it's cheaper".
Get stuck in Abbott and Turnbull, this expensive turkey needs exposing for what it is.
What about the smart electricity meters, as they are rolling out in Victoria ? These meters need broadband communications and have to make do with setting up their own infrastructure and at whose cost ? The consumer of course ! Broadband over power line carrier is going ahead in leaps and bounds and has increased in speed dramatically over the last few years and guess what, almost everyone has access to a power grid. I for one am not convinced of the govts argument that we need this technology now, when hospital waiting lists are getting longer and staff are becoming rarer !!
When you start to develop the rural areas, your economy will grow and your ability to spend more on other infrastructure projects, such as water sequestration, will increase.