NBN Inquiry shows the case for Labor’s NBN has not been made

The NBN Inquiry just completed by the House of Representatives Infrastructure and Communications Committee shows the case for Labor’s NBN has not been made, Paul Fletcher MP, Member for Bradfield, said today.

The Coalition’s conclusions are highlighted in its Dissenting Report, issued by Mr Fletcher and his two Coalition colleagues on the Inquiry.  This report can be accessed at here .

“There were very few persuasive examples given of applications which actually require the 100 Mbps speeds that the NBN will deliver,” said Mr Fletcher.

 “The central premise of the NBN policy – that there is overwhelming demand for fibre to the home – is wrong.  That is evident from the poor early take up, from the relatively poor response to the Inquiry, and from extensive evidence that many stakeholders are not interested or engaged.”

Mr Fletcher, who served on the Committee and is a former senior executive in the telecommunications sector, said the inquiry was a highly political exercise, designed to generate a feel-good report offering support for the rollout of the NBN.

“To be meaningful, this inquiry should have been held before the decision to spend $43 billion on the NBN, and it should have been structured as a cost-benefit analysis, rather than a shopping list of benefits without any consideration of cost,” said Mr Fletcher.

Mr Fletcher said he was struck by evidence that many applications which are claimed as benefits of the NBN in fact do not require anything like the speeds it is being engineered to deliver.  For example, the Inquiry was briefed by Intel-GE Care Innovations on a 2010 trial of health monitoring equipment, involving 50 elderly patients receiving in-home nursing care in the Hunter.

“This application only requires a speed of 512 Kbps – that is, one two hundredth of the 100 Mbps speed the NBN is being engineered to deliver. Yet remarkably, NBN Co has issued a fact sheet which claims that the Intel Health Guide it is an application which requires the NBN, stating:  Trials show the Intel Health Guide delivers improved patient outcomes. With an NBN, these services could be delivered to homes across the country’,” said Mr Fletcher.

“Unfortunately, this kind of story is not uncommon.  The inquiry has confirmed to me that many of the Rudd-Gillard Government’s claims about the NBN simply do not stand up to scrutiny.”