NBN petitioners decry "backwater" FTTN model

Supporters of Labor's vision for the National Broadband Network yesterday delivered a petition to MPs across Australia calling for the government to keep the FTTH NBN model.

The online petition, which has attracted over 271,000 signatures, was designed to “highlight Australia’s desire for a superior FTTH broadband solution”.

The petition, delivered to MPs by NBN Public Defender, urges against relying on outdated copper for last-mile connectivity.

The petition also argues that the eventual 100 Mbps download speeds the Coalition has argued will be possible under an FTTN NBN would be insufficient for tomorrow’s technology-centric society.

NBN Public Defender’s Vladimir Lasky said in a statement to ITNews that an FTTN NBN threatens to “turn Australia into a telecommunications backwater ... The NBN is the most critical infrastructure project in Australia right now, and it needs to be built right to unlock the growth of Australia’s information economy, education and R&D capabilities.”

The petition was started by Queensland student Nick Paine in September and attracted the first 188,000 signatures in a matter of days. Paine told AAP the fact that so many Australians have added their names shows there’s “a real depth of feeling about this issue in the community”.

But if there is a groundswell of online support, it has not translated well to the real world. The Register notes that NBN Public Defender’s planned Day of Action to support the delivery of the petition fell largely flat. Only 20 people attended the event outside communications minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney office, including four members of the media and one baby.

Technology journalist Simon Sharwood wrote for the publication that attendance had been limited by the fact that other groups supportive of the NBN had tried to join in but had been rebuffed. “That state of affairs gave the event a rather Life of Brian vibe,” he said. “The People’s NBN front wasn’t very organised and hadn’t told the Popular NBN Front what they were up to.”

Even if the event had attracted large crowds, it’s questionable whether an online petition will have an impact on the NBN rollout plans.

Turnbull was rather dismissive of the online petition when news of its existence started circulating in September. “Last Saturday there was a general election at which the NBN was one of the most prominent issues. The Coalition’s NBN Policy ... had been published in April - five months ahead of the election. The Coalition won the election,” he wrote at the time.

“The promoters of this petition apparently believe that we should ignore the lengthy public debate on the NBN that preceded the election and also ignore the election result. We should within days of the election walk away from one of our most well-debated, well-understood and prominent policies. Democracy? I don’t think so.”

That said, the Coalition’s stance against FTTP for the NBN appears to have softened since it took power, and Turnbull has repeatedly asserted that the new government is taking a technology-agnostic approach during the NBN review process. In the September statement, he also acknowledged that “the NBN debate is not over”.

Image courtesy of Dushan Hanuska under CC