Copper dooming us to second rate, says IA

While nbn co has made progress according to its latest Corporate Plan, “... the continuing use of copper in the FTTN rollout [is] a flawed strategy that will see Australia left behind in the emerging digitally enabled global economy”, according to peak body Internet Australia (IA).

In a statement, IA CEO Laurie Patton said deploying the “technically inferior copper network” appears not to have delivered significant per premises cost savings.

According to IA, the FTTN service is only a “stop-gap proposition” and will need to be replaced.

“The simple fact is the speeds attainable from copper can’t match those of fibre,” said Patton. “The gap in deliverable speeds will only increase over time.

“Once fibre has been laid it is simply a case of upgrading the equipment at each end in order to benefit from higher speeds as the technology is further refined.

“Australia’s internet speed ranking has fallen from a regrettable 30 to a disturbing 54 in the past few years,” he added.

“We are around 10th in our region, where we need to be most competitive if we are to become an innovation nation.”

Patton said the NBN requires an enhanced marketing effort and an improvement in customer service in order to reach its potential. This must involve nbn itself and its retail resellers and should be a priority consideration for the federal government.

“Making claims that its services are ‘available’ to more households underscores the fact that take-up by customers remains an issue, along with continuing reports of confusing customer relations practices,” said Patton.

“The fact is more households have chosen not to sign up than have taken up the opportunity.

“Clearly not enough people have been convinced of the value proposition from nbn,” he added.

“We need to understand why people are not signing up and what it will take to get them to embrace the NBN.”

Patton said that in IA’s view, the best way for nbn to reduce its borrowing requirements is to increase cash flow from subscriptions.

“The more people sign up now, the less nbn will need to borrow in the long run. It is simple mathematics.”

Image courtesy John Jones under CC