2013/05/10

NBN: Coalition Fine Print - 1.1M houses WONT get 25Mbps.

When is a guarantee not a guarantee? When it's a Political statement.

The "minimum" guaranteed speed excludes one in seven (13%) premises covered by the Coalition's DSL-FTTN: or 1.1M premises will be "NOT happy, Mal!"

While the "target" is 10%, that's across all 11.3M fixed-lines, including the 24% premises served by Fibre. The 1.1M excepted premises will all come from the 8.968M premises covered by FTTN.

From page 8 of the Coalition NBN Policy, "New statement of expectations"
We will issue a revised statement of expectations directing nBn Co to provide broadband services with a minimum download data rate of 25 megabits per second by the end of 2016 in all areas of australia, and 50 megabits per second by the end of 2019 in 90 per cent of the fixed line footprint.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Steve,

I read that as:

- 25 Mbps for ALL by 2016
- 50 Mbps for 90% fixed line by 2019

So you are correct in your 13% figure, but for 50Mbps not 25Mbps.

David.

steve jenkin said...

I read it that way first time round.

Came back and reparsed it, and the "90% of footprint" figure can apply equally to both regions of time.

If they'd meant it to be unambiguous, they had time to make it that way.

There are so many misleading statements and deliberate omissions, my usual "take the most liberal interpretation" doesn't apply.

This document is deliberately constructed to hide the truth...

Unknown said...

I agree with you on the document being constructed to hide the truth but...

"25 megabits per second by the end of 2016 in all areas of australia"

That's pretty clear. 25% to everyone by the end of 2016.

David.

steve jenkin said...

The problem for me is the punctuation, the use of a comma to join what may, or may not, be two separate/unrelated statements.

The contextual binding of the final "fixed line footprint" isn't unambiguous. [I'm not a pedant, I have friends that are. I've spent too many decades reading Tech Manuals, trying to tease out the meaning, especially for "edge" cases.]

A fullstop and rewording would've made it plain. E.g.

We will issue a revised statement of expectations directing nBn Co to provide broadband services with a minimum download data rate of 25 megabits per second by the end of 2016 in all areas of Australia. By end of 2019, 50 megabits per second in 90 per cent of the fixed line footprint.

Lee Symes said...

What about the last 2 paragraphs on page 14; I haven't seen anything more hypocritical:

Labor’s re-establishment of a public monopoly in a crucial sector of the economy, and its archaic refusal to weigh options, costs and benefits, or seek genuinely expert advice, demonstrate disdain for the proven policy principles of the past 30 years.

The Coalition, in contrast, will restore the lessons of the reform era to prominence. These include the value of rigorous analysis; the need for transparency in accounting for the costs and outcomes of policies; and the importance of competition.

Lee Symes said...

What about the last 2 paragraphs on page 14; I haven't seen anything more hypocritical:

Labor’s re-establishment of a public monopoly in a crucial sector of the economy, and its archaic refusal to weigh options, costs and benefits, or seek genuinely expert advice, demonstrate disdain for the proven policy principles of the past 30 years.

The Coalition, in contrast, will restore the lessons of the reform era to prominence. These include the value of rigorous analysis; the need for transparency in accounting for the costs and outcomes of policies; and the importance of competition.

steve jenkin said...

Wonderful. Thanks very much.

Either these guys are very cynical & disingenuous, or they actually believe their own spin.

If like the Republicans/NeoCons in the USA, they believe their own rhetoric, things will go very badly.