Fast Broadband 3 Years Away

A fast broadband network is at least three years away and chances are it will not be funded by taxpayer money as being suggested by the Labor party.

Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan says she’s confident a fast broadband network will be rolled out within three years without touching taxpayers’ money.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd last week unveiled a $4.7 billion plan to deliver high-speed internet services to 98 percent of Australians within five years.

The network would be half-funded by taxpayers, using $2 billion of existing telecommunications funding and up to $2.7 billion from the Future Fund, with private companies to invest another $5 billion.

The government has accused Mr Rudd of stealing from the future by raiding the $140 billion Future Fund, which was set up to pay for public servants’ superannuation from 2020.

Senator Coonan said she was already in discussions with Telstra and other carriers about setting up such a network without dipping into government funds.

“I think that the prospects are reasonable that there will be an opportunity for a provider or a group of providers to be able to roll out a fast fibre network very soon – much earlier than Labor’s could – within three years to the capital cities and then to a much broader regional footprint,” Senator Coonan told ABC television.

“That’s what I’m working on and that’s what I expect to be able to deliver, and without a $5.7 billion (sic) injection from public funds.”

She said the government had spent $2 billion on broadband in under-serviced areas in rural, regional and remote Australia in the past two years.

“I am shortly to announce, following a long tender process, a new wholesale access open network in regional Australia,” she said.

“We’ve also put aside a fund to ensure that there’s a guarantee that no matter where you live, you will be able to access broadband.

“And finally we’ve put in place a communications fund to ensure that upgrades can be made for the future.”

She said there were two commercial prospects on the table to set up the broadband network.

“And the extraordinary thing is that Labor’s proposal is to smash and grab the Future Fund, rob from the bush, and dismantle the competition regime to do what people are going to do anyway,” she said.

Senator Coonan said the technology was changing so rapidly that a fibre to the node network might be superseded within years.

“This sort of stuff changes almost daily and if you just look back a couple of years ago, no one had even heard about broadband,” she said.

“Fibre’s fine now but it won’t always do the trick and it certainly won’t (be able to be rolled out) as far out as Labor claims, so that’s why the proposal is a very flawed one.”