CEPU slams plans for overhead NBN trial

The federal government’s plan for another trial of stringing fibre along electricity poles for the NBN is wasteful, unnecessary and aimed at deflecting heat from Tasmanian liberal leader Will Hodgman, the Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) claims.

The planned Tasmanian trial of using overhead electricity infrastructure to deliver fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) services represents unneeded duplication, given that 17,500 homes have already been connected to the NBN this way, CEPU Tasmanian Branch state organiser Emma Gill said.

“The trial has already been done, thousands of Tasmanians already enjoy a fibre-to-the-premise NBN delivered via the above-ground electricity network, so we know this is an effective, affordable and realistic way of providing the NBN to all Tasmanians,” she said.

“Mr Turnbull knows this, but instead of committing to using this proven technology he is proposing yet another trial, which is simply wasting time and money.”

She asserted that the real reason for the trial is to deflect criticism from Hodgman two weeks out from the Tasmanian state election, and urged the Tasmanian opposition leader to secure a firm commitment from the federal government to provide an FTTP NBN to all Tasmanians.

“If he can’t even influence his Liberal Party colleagues in Canberra on the eve of an election, what hope does Mr Hodgman have of fighting for a better deal for Tasmania in the future?”

CEPU’s NBN construction coordinator David Mier added that the successful trials of FTTP over electricity infrastructure in Tasmania and South Australia show that this technique can deliver faster broadband at a lower cost than the Coalition’s preferred model of using mainly fibre-to-the-node.

“All we need is a commitment from Mr Turnbull to use this proven technology and every Tasmanian community can receive access to the same high-speed NBN, rather than the Coalition’s substandard alternative,” he said.

Image courtesy of Michael Kappel under CC