Australia's National Broadband Network: how it came to be and where it might be heading

Abstract

The Australian Government has committed to build a fibre-to-the-premises network serving 90 percent of Australian homes at an estimated cost of $43b. This article looks at how it came to abandon an earlier plan for fibre-to-the-node network at a fraction of the cost, at how the technical development and rollout plans for the project are progressing, at the political hurdles it must still surmount and at what the Federal Opposition might do should an election derail the Government's plan. The article also examines legislation the government is trying to push through that would drastically restructure Telstra and which it is using this to try and negotiate Telstra's participation in the new network.