Public support for NBN waning?
- 01 February, 2011 12:45
- Comments 4
Public support for the National Broadband Network (NBN) could be on the wane with a new poll finding both Liberal/National and Labor voters favour the private sector, rather than the government, to deliver broadband services.
The poll, taken by Essential Research in late January, found 53 per cent of 1053 respondents preferred the private sector to run broadband services compared to 29 per cent favouring government.
Liberal/National voters voted 63 per cent in favour of private sector broadband services compared to 24 per cent in favour.
Crucially, Labor voters also favoured the private sector (44 per cent) over the government (38 per cent) and despite the Federal Government rolling out the universal access publicly-owned National Broadband Network.
Some 28 per cent of all respondents indicated they favoured a scrapping or postponement of the NBN as the best way for the Government to pay for the damage caused by the recent floods.
Just 11 per cent of Labor voters agreed with scrapping or postponing the NBN while nearly half (48 per cent) agreed. However, Scrapping or postponing the NBN was strongly favoured by those aged 55 and above (40 per cent).
The poll is yet more bad news for the NBN Co, the company responsible for delivering the NBN. A separate report from Access Economics has found the company may face a skills shortage and consequent project delays as a result of rebuilding efforts in post-flood Queensland and continued mining projects.
According to Access Economics’ latest investment and structural change monitoring report, resources investment and associated infrastructure works continue to dominate the Australian investment landscape, with strong commodity prices delivering a profits surge. The subsequent boom has made new investment projects irresistible, according to the research firm.
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Comments
eric
If the NBN costs me 5 cents more per month than I'm paying now, then I'll stay with what I've got. So, up yours Conroy the conner.
Craig
NBN have been in Willunga (one of the test sites) for over 6 months now and still I have not heard of any actual connections to a home. If it takes this long to do one small town how are they going to do over 90% of the whole country in the timeline they propose? Go figure!
NBN supporter
I fully support the NBN, hell I'd even pay a NBN levy! I would want the NBN to always stay a public sector business because of what we've seen with the outrageous price increases on other basic ESSENTIAL services. The internet is an essential service for the modern society, why would you make a phone call when you can send a letter right? I think this would be a terrific boost to business growth in the rural regions. Outsourcing call centers and data warehouses to rural regions where the rent is cheaper and the cost of living lower would be a viable option compared to offshore.
Former liberal voter
Geez people, stop grabbing simplistic ill-informed snippets (either for or against) and spreading them as if they mean something. I believe Abbots single minded attacks on the NBN is a big threat facing the future of this great country and an easy target because people do not understand the reasons for the technology and what the costs would be if we don’t get it. Gee mate have a backbone, don’t sacrifice part of our future for your next election campaign and to pass profit making chances to your mates.
Some things are good to hand over to private enterprise to take up but nation building projects are not among them.
Its not the customer who buy the NBN it’s their ISP who will decide whether to use the NBN and they will when the time is ready. The copper will just not cut it.
Its also no surprise that test sites are slow to take up. The copper is still functioning and the infrastructure is not in place to support a wholesale migration, that’s why it’s called a test site. Give the people a chance. PMG/Telecom/Telstra had a long time to get the copper right, fibre will not be done overnight.
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