Is Stephen Conroy's short time line for interested builders of the National Broadband Network to submit their proposals a cause for concern?
Last Month the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy issued a Request for Proposal for its $4.7 billion Fibre-to-the-Node (FttN) network. Proposals need to be submitted by July 25 and the winner will be announced in October.
However, many of the interested parties have argued that the timeframe is far too short. On Thursday, shadow communications minister Bruce Billson said the Opposition will use its position to demand the government provide more details about its FttN plans, including regulation, wholesale access, architecture, and regional coverage.
"We won't oppose the bill but we will seek to canvas missing information [in the RFP]," Billson said.
The government's fibre broadband purse could be $2 billion lighter following a coalition announcement that it will oppose legislation to pool the Communications Fund into the national broadband network coffers.
Is the government rushing the tender process for such a critical piece of infrastructure? Will the end result be a half-baked broadband network? What do you think?
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Comments
Hmmm, a bit of a rush? Maybe
They are probably trying to make it happen a bit too fast. But then government knows that we are not the pioneer in building something like this so a relatively good if not a great proposal can be cooked up without taking too long.
Unless we are trying to build something revolutionary which I highly doubt. I m sure the government wants it to be done to the highest quality, the actual building can be adjusted accordingly when its underway.
The problem is when its gonna get started and not really whether its gonna turn out to be a half-baked thing. I am already quite happy with the Internet speed I m getting, but certainly don't mind getting better speed so the rush, if there really is one, is a good thing for technology and consumers in this country.
The NBN will take years anyway
I reckon the whole tender process is going to be a painfully drawn out ordeal that will surely involve potential legal challenges and no doubt telstra will somehow find something to cry about and stall the process even further... sure we might end up with a half baked nbn if they rush it, but I dont have all that much confidence the government will be able to deal with all the players involved and get it right even if they had a decade to sort it out!
To all those who hope for *real* super fast broadband - acquire a taste for saki and bad karaoke cos you'll have to move to Japan!!!
All I care about...
SAY NO TO TEL$TRA!
Hurry up already!
All I hear is blah blah blah... just build something that will let me download movies over the internet.
Maybe it will be a positive thing?
I agree. Make the interested parties work overtime for their tendor.
Maybe it will be a positive thing?
Maybe this will cause a jump start to the whole project, which would be a welcome development?
Definitely about time!
I'm hoping this really pushes down the cost of fast internet in Australia.
But how long will it be after a winner is announced until it is finally implemented and will go the way of the recent NSW rail and road projects because it's been rushed?
It's about time!
Are they rushing it? Of course they are. They have to make up for lost time!
It's not like we're asking for something to be built that no one else has. Many other countries have working broadband networks, we can already learn a lot from them.