Mike Andrew Consulting

NBN cheaper than current internet plans

By mike, Oct 20 in blog with 0 comments

The boss of the company building the national broadband network says reports of cheaper entry-level internet plans under the NBN than current internet connections are in line with his company’s analysis.

Chief executive Mike Quigley told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday that NBN Co’s aim had been always to set the wholesale prices to match the market for the benefit of consumers.

Price comparison website WhistleOut said it had analysed the early trends in the pricing of the NBN against the ADSL 2+.

It said many of the NBN plans would be cheaper than equivalent ADSL 2+ bundle plans offered currently by internet service providers (ISP).

The site’s analysis of a monthly plan for 50 gigabytes download at a data speed of 12 megabytes per second found the average price was $59.14 for an ADSL 2+ bundle and naked DSL (including line rental and set-up costs average across the contract length) on four ISPs – Exetel, Internode, iiNet and iPrimus.

On the NBN’s equivalent plans, the average cost was $48.46.

‘It is certainly in the ballpark,’ Mr Quigley told the Senate environment and communications legislation committee hearing in Canberra.

‘…When people are transitioning off ADSL 2+ plans to the NBN, they will be paying roughly the same for a superior service.’

Mr Quigley said the vote at Telstra’s annual general meeting in favour of its deal with NBN Co was a ‘very important milestone’ for the project.

On Tuesday, 99.45 per cent of Telstra shareholders voted for the deal.

Under the plan with the federal government and NBN Co, Telstra will progressively decommission its copper-based network and allow NBN Co to access its pits, manholes and exchanges, and sell some infrastructure.

In return, Telstra will receive $11 billion from the federal government over the next 30 years.

The government created NBN Co to build the fibre-optic cable network to 93 per cent of Australian homes, schools and business, with the rest provided by fixed-wireless and satellite technology.

The $36 billion NBN project is scheduled for completion in 2021.

The chairman of the NBN joint committee, independent MP Rob Oakeshott, said the committee would assess whether the federal government’s deal with Telstra for the NBN represented value for money for taxpayers.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said the decision by Telstra shareholders was ‘hardly surprising’.

‘Telstra shareholders have voted in their own self interest, as they should,’ he said.

NBN Co is about to begin construction work on the next stage of the rollout of the high-speed broadband network.

The company released a 12-month plan on Tuesday, listing 28 new locations in each state and territory where construction of the fibre optic network will start between now and September 2012.

The network has so far been rolled out and activated in areas passing 18,200 premises, including three sites in Tasmania and five mainland sites.

By September next year, construction work will have commenced on sites passing 485,100 premises.

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.