print :

2016-10-28

telco industry

Telco industry veterans call for NBN write-down

Two well-known participants in the telecommunications industry have called for a write down of the NBN as debate about the usage prices facing Retail Service Providers (RSPs) intensifies. 

Bevan Slattery, the founder of a number of successful wholesale broadband businesses (Pipe Network, Megaport, Superloop) has been a critic of NBN pricing for a number of years. 

Now he is proposing a new RSP usage charge of between $3 and $5 per Mbps – well below the current price of $15.75 and less than half the $10 level which nbn CEO Bill Morrow is forecasting for next year. 

Such a drop in prices, Slattery says, is needed to encourage use of the network, particularly at the higher speed tiers for which, at present, there is little take-up. Some 75% of NBN users take up plans offering speeds of 25Mbps or less. 

What’s the point? 

Of course the point is that the higher prices are necessary if the NBN is to make a commercial return on its (up to) $56 billion construction costs. But that aim will be self-defeating if the end result is underuse of the network. 

Slattery suggest around $20 billion of the money spent so far may need to be written off to allow a workable wholesale pricing structure.  And former Telstra executive and industry insider, Bob James agrees. 

“We need a much larger (wholesale) price drop,” he says. 

“Put simply, about half the cost of the NBN will need to be written off sooner or later for NBN wholesale prices to support globally competitive retail packages.”  

Source: Communications Day

What's New

Telecommunication

Telstra's Pay Offer
Telstra EBA 2018
ACTU turns 90
May Day 2016
Optus EPA approved
Telstra EA Update
Optus award update

Postal

Reps training
Reasonable overtime
Vale Jojie Vivar
Changes to Bulletin
Christmas pay rises
Postal reform
Facebook bullying
Year in review
Vale Jim Armstrong

News

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
Vale Shane Morse
Meeting reminder
Coronavirus Update
METRO RALLY
Reps training
ACTU turns 90
Vale Jojie Vivar
May Day 2016
Facebook bullying
May Day 2015
Working In Heat
Your Union Petition
Save our Posties
Sensis Sell Off
""