Abbott will cancel NBN fibre: Conroy
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has said that over 1 million premises currently scheduled to get fibre to the premises (FttP) in the next three years on the National Broadband Network (NBN) will miss out under the Coalition's alternative proposal.
NBN Co has close to 5 million premises in its sights for construction of the NBN out to mid-2016 under the updated three-year rollout plan. This includes 1.3 million new premises in 190 different towns and suburbs that are now expected to have construction commenced or completed by June 2016.
Conroy announced the updated rollout plan at an event in Blacktown, Western Sydney, on Sunday. The event was said to mark the first NBN services being activated in Sydney; however, the service has already been activated in new housing estates in parts of Western Sydney already. Sunday's announcement was the first connection of the service to existing, or "brownfields", premises.
Conroy warned that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would "cancel" the construction of the NBN to these new premises should he win the September federal election.
"Tony Abbott's plan is to leave 9 million Australian homes disconnected from Labor's NBN, and this is going to create a digital divide across suburbs, across cities, and across all of Australia," he said. "You will have Labor's NBN with gigabyte [sic] capacity, and Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott's NBN delivering you a second-rate broadband network, but still spending AU$20 billion, and still borrowing nearly AU$30 billion for a second-rate network."
The opposition's NBN policy, released last month, would see 22 percent of Australian premises (2.8 million) continue to get fibre to the premises, while 71 percent will get fibre to the node (FttN) and will have to continue to use the existing copper line to their premises. NBN Co would remain the wholesale provider of services on that network, but users would not be able to get the 100Mbps speeds that the full fibre service offers.
While Turnbull has said that he will honour existing contracts that are in place with NBN Co, Conroy's statements on Sunday suggest that Turnbull's plan would not include all of the premises currently scheduled for construction by 2016.
"So these 1.3 million homes that will be built in 2015 to 2016, this will only happen if a Labor government is re-elected in September."
In the Coalition's background document, 2.8 million premises will continue to receive fibre to the premises, but the vast majority of these (1.6 million) will be new housing estates. Of the 1.2 million remaining, the policy only budgets for 565,000 existing premises, scheduled to be completed by June 2014, to continue getting the full fibre services — far fewer than what it has been suggested NBN Co is currently contracted for.
Turnbull's office had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.
The use of the term "construction commenced or completed" in describing areas set to get the NBN has been labelled as misleading by Turnbull. The term indicates construction that is either in planning, underway, or completed. An area specified to be in the three-year rollout plan could be waiting 18 months from the time NBN Co indicates that construction has commenced before they are able to connect to the NBN.
For example, NBN Co has said that construction had commenced or been completed for 784,592 premises at the end of December 2012; however, the company's June 30, 2013, target for the number of premises that will actually be able to connect to the fibre service will be between 200,000 and 220,000, Conroy said on Sunday.
NBN Co has set up a site for people to check to see whether they are included in the three-year rollout plan.
The new suburbs include:
New South Wales
Albion Park
Bankstown
Barham-Koondrook
Batemans Bay
Batlow
Bawley Point
Bellingen
Belmont
Bermagui
Berowra
Berridale
Bombala
Bondi
Branxton-Greta
Bulahdelah
Canowindra
Cessnock-Bellbird
Clarence Town
Como
Cooma
Coraki
Culcairn
Deniliquin
Dorrigo
Dungog
Edensor Park
Evans Head
Finley
Frenchs Forest
Gilgandra
Gunnedah
Hornsby
Howlong
Jindabyne
Kellyville
Kempsey
Kooringal
Macksville
Maclean
Manilla
Mona Vale
Moruya
Moss Vale
Murrurundi
Murwillumbah
Narooma
North Parramatta
Petersham
Quirindi
Ramsgate
Raymond Terrace
Shoalhaven Heads
Singleton
South West Rocks
Sydney
Springwood
Tocumwal
Tumbarumba
Tumut
Tuross Heads
Ulladulla
Uralla
Urunga
Walcha
Williamtown
Woodburn
Yamba
Queensland
Agnes Water
Airlie Beach
Albany Creek
Ayr
Babinda
Bells Bridge
Booral
Bowen
Boyne Island
Burleigh Heads
Burrum Heads
Cardwell
Childers
Collinsville
Cooktown
Coorparoo
Crows Nest
Gympie
Herberton
Highfields
Howard
Innisfail
Lammermoor
Landsborough
Malanda
Maleny
Maryborough
Mission Beach
Mossman
Murgon
Oakey
Proserpine
Rainbow Beach
Ravenshoe
Redland Bay
Sherwood
Sunshine Coast Caloundra
Sunshine Coast Noosa
Tin Can Bay
Toorbul
Toowong
Tully
Wondai
Wonga Beach
Woodford
Woodgate
Victoria
Anglesea
Ballan
Beaufort
Beechworth
Castlemaine
Chiltern
Clunes
Coburg
Craigieburn
Daylesford
Dimboola
Elmore
Garfield
Glen Iris
Heathcote
Heidelberg
Heyfield
Kooyong
Kyneton
Lang Lang
Maldon
Mirboo
North Moreland
Nathalia Newport
North Melbourne
Numurkah
Oakleigh
Point Cook
Portarlington
Romsey
Rushworth
Rye
Shoreham
Sunbury
Tallangatta
Thomastown
Trentham
Warburton
Winchelsea
Woori Yallock
South Australia
Barmera
Beachport
Berri
Brighton
Ceduna
Glenunga
Lyndoch
Millicent
Minlaton
Mount Gambier
Naracoorte
Penola
Port Lincoln
Renmark
Robe
Salisbury
Stansbury
Tumby Bay
Waikerie
Yorketown
Western Australia
Augusta
Broome
Cowaramup
Derby
Dunsborough
Ellenbrook
Esperance
Glenfield
Jandakot
South Margaret River
Norseman
Quinns Rocks
Spearwood
Wickham
York
The NBN rollout in Tasmania and the Northern Territory is scheduled to be completed in 2015, so no new suburbs were announced.