National Broadband Network

October 2008 - Posts

• TransACT TPG runner leaves Terria souless

  TransACT and TPG-Soul join AAPT as the mass exodus of Telecommunication Providers who continue to leave the Terria Consortium in droves appear to leave any chance of a successful bid all but diminished. The impression coming from the Terria camp appears to be quite dire as iiNet's managing director Michael Malone says he's convinced the NBN bidding process is corrupt by stating the government had failed to define the rules for such. Although Terria chairman Michael Egan said the current spate of withdrawals will not affect their ability to fund the NBN if successful, however on the surface one could be easily forgiven for thinking the Terria consortium is washed up. In any case the NBN show will still roll on with the bidding deadline scheduled for late November. "The one thing that everyone in the industry agrees on is that this is a bad investment and it's a completely corrupt process. The government is just pissing money up against the wall with this project because it failed to define the rules of the bidding process," Mr Malone said. Source: AustralianIT Posted Oct 27 2008, 03:29 PM by Ronnie with no comments Filed under: NBN, TERRiA, TPG, AAPT, TransACT, Soul

• Estimates on NBN costs down says Conroy

  Although the current global financial downturn has witnessed the fall of the Australian dollar, Communication Minister Stephen Conroy has rejected claims by Telstra chief financial officer that it would increase costs for the proposed development of the new national broadband network. Mr Conroy argues that some of the estimates have actually come down to between 10 and $15 billion, and that it wasn't that long ago when there was speculation that suggested the NBN would cost around $25 billion. With proponents having until the 26th November to enter bidding submissions, Mr Conroy remarked that there will be a lot more public commentary surrounding the $4.7 billion project that the government will not be buying into. Many industry analysts are now suggesting that Telstra has tightened up as a favourite to win the broadband network tender rights due to the unsteadiness of the financial market along with the fact that the Terria consortium is now finding it difficult to secure funding. It's also been stated that it would not come as any surprise to see the government relax regulatory guidelines that could of potentially seen Telstra structurally separated. The current eventuations certainly do make it appear that the government wants the NBN project put to bed and commenced ASAP! I guess it's only a matter of a few months until we see an outcome (finally!). Posted Oct 15 2008, 03:46 PM by Ronnie with no comments Filed under: Telstra, NBN, Stephen Conroy, TERRiA, Structural Separation