Let them eat cake.

Funny how the author glosses over *why* utilities are becoming so much more expensive. They were built, like all public utilities, using public moneys on a not for profit basis. Only since privatisation have the costs blown out and service reduced. This is not surprising when one realises that privatisation requires competition, which in turn requires duplication and Return On Investment (ROI).
Public monopolies must include some redundancy for maintenance, staff turnover, etc and this, when compared to a *single* company in a privatised system seems "inefficient". When compared to the whole competitive market however, public utilities are an absolute bargain!
Here's the rub: Public monies use cheap government borrowing (there goes a few million in financial profits), minimal marketing (another million or so in marketing profits), competitive tendering (more gouging opportunities lost) and redundancy along the lines of maintenance staff (worker wages? where's the profits?). Privately run power companies are notorious for minimising maintenance then blaming "externalities" for the inevitable disaster.
Government also has transparency requirements (no more "commercial in confidence" escape clauses) and has tighter spending controls.
Anyone with any inside knowledge of Telstra since privatisation will be very familiar with the fallacy that public infrastructure is more efficient when privatised. Power retailers and public transport are also good examples, not to mention the rising % of medical costs that have *nothing* to do with medicine!
Now all this anti-NBN ranting is put in context we can see what the real issue is: If the government builds it then private companies cannot gouge the public and maximise their profits...they have to compete with value or not play at all.

How many residents would be prepared to pay way above $100 per month ($100 being the concessionary introductory retail charge to attract customers in Tasmania) for the NBN 100 Mbps service, particularly after having to pay a substantial sum for connecting to the NBN, or, already being serviced by alternative mobile/wireless internet services? That is the burning question.

It is in this context that the author raises his very pertinent question, namely, how far is the Government prepared to subsidise use of the NBN. Sadly, the Govt avoids any consideration of this, by bluffing about the nebulous incremental benefits of the NBN.

That the Govt will need to heavily subsidise NBN customer usage, appears beyond doubt. In face of the mammoth $43 billion capital expenditure and the massive ongoing subsidisation of NBN usage, surely there would be many projects more deserving of public capital expenditure, particularly as private capital can be relied on for development of faster broadband internet as the demand evolves. It is high time that the Govt addresses this issue by doing a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of the NBN, so that cost-effective allocation of scarce public capital can take place, and so avoid the outrageously expensive white elephant that the NBN promises to be. Failing a cost-benefit analysis, the NBN should be referred to the Productivity Commission for economic analysis and report.

Public infastructure will always be a cost.
City does not need it so do the country and forget the city.

we should have stuck..with fibre to the node
i know..i will never use a freeway..built right to my front door
thus resent..it..being built...[for me]

by the same measure..im sick of bying at 10 bucks a meg..[gig..or whatever]...the idea of paying..per gigabyte..[at arround..a few bucks]..does seem,..fair..as i use less than one a month

those who use more..should pay
the idiots that want high definition...deserve to pay..for it
the more you use..the more it should cost

[that..[hd]..was a huge con..to chew up..free to air bandwidth]
my needs could easy be met with a landline...[that ONLY connects to the web]...

i NEVER use a phone..[dont even own a phone..of anytype]
thus bundeling..is an absurdity

i got a perfectly functioning copper line..right into my home
it could deliver more than i could ever use

instead im using one of them plug-in..modum/stick..thingy
and even that is on trickle..[and even that is plenty fast for me]

that being said..its my only line to the outside world
this moring it was playing funny buggers...didnt recognise me[anmd refused to work]...

meaning i need to spend 80 to 100 dollars to get a new stick..then 12 months..15 gig limet download...[near 150].costing over 200 bucks...

[and im over it]..its not worth doing that scam again
enron pricing...then the nbn...

no im over it all
when this stick dies..so does oug

and i will then use snail mail...
[i got hundreds of..unsused mint postage-stamps]

The NBN, a $43bn internet gaming and gambling platform.

We should call Conroy Gameboy.

That explains your posts one under god, not using full sentences to save on your uploads, very clever...

People who think we won't need an NBN do not understand technology and are living in the past. Whether we need an NBN right now and at this cost is the debate we should be having.

Will never be as cheap as it is today, Some people live in caves i am sure of that.

The government should just ignore all the luddites and naysayers. The same people who never uttered a word as Howard brought us the white elephant of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway.
The lies and distortions pushed by the tories will be shown to be nothing more than bile and hot air (as usual) before too long.

How can you call infastructure a white elephant, no matter who authorised it..

Howard brought us the white elephant of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway.
mikk,
Now there is a statement that reeks of lack of foresight !

For a start, some businesses can benefit by handing back their expensive On-Ramp or CustomNet services - as well as their leased megalinks - and creating their own Virtual Private Networks via IP.

They can set-up their own IntraNets and create a business environment without the limitations of distance or putting everybody into one building.

Telecommuting is already happening for many people and this will make it easier and more widespread.

Anybody who can't see past just sending eMails or downloading MP3s and porn is missing the point.

Mobile phones were introduced about 20 years ago and they were then considered to be an expensive indulgence only for for the wealthy.

Telstra was prepared to make a considerable financial investment back then in the hope of a modest take-up rate. It look several years to reach the 1 million customer mark and now it's the basis of their entire business.

This is more a political argument than a social or economic one. Both sides agree that it's needed but they are just typically arguing over how it should be implemented.

"TREASURY has warned cabinet it needs to give "very careful consideration" to the National Broadband Network's implementation study over coming months.

The department argued that the project carried significant risks to the national balance sheet.

The advice to cabinet, originally suppressed when Treasury's incoming brief to the government was released under Freedom of Information laws in September, was revealed yesterday.

The release of the advice comes after the Department of Communications and Broadband revealed in its brief to the government that the company overseeing the rollout of the NBN disagreed with the McKinsey-KPMG implementation study over recommendations relating to the design of the high-speed broadband network and the nature of the prices and products NBN Co would offer to customers."

So the government has been suppressing information from its own departments that the NBN is financially shaky. How long do we have to wait before the whole house of cards collapses.

How long do we have to wait before the whole house of cards collapses.
Shadow Minister,
It already has collapsed. It's just that many can't tell that we're not looking at the real thing anymore, it's merely a hologram.

The nature of the beast is revealed in the way that these many new
applications are never described in detail. It is all airy fairy stuff.
The latest is recovering patients could be at home instead of in the
hospital.
If such a patient needed 100 Mbit monitoring, then they should be in
the Intense recovery ward not at home.
One so called application is sending high definition xrays to city
specialists. Are they suggestion they will be sent from your home ?
Rubbish, the xrays machines are in the hospitals, not in every house
in the land.

Someone tell me what are these 100Mbit applications !
Don't tell me telecommuting either, that needs similar bandwidth that we have now.
Just another snake oil salesman pitch.

It is not good politics to hide the business plan as the Govt is now doing. It has something to hide obviously.

The extent that the Government is prepared to subsidise use of the NBN has not been admitted as yet. Even when it is, it will be understimated grossly, as conning is the game that the Govt loves playing

The Govt is hypocritical to claim that the NBN is justified because it would improve national productivity, when it ignores evaluation of the productivity of the capital expenditure involved. The Govt ought to look seriously at the competing demands for capital. It should realise that expenditure on the NBN would deny essential programs in vital areas such as infrastructure and health, from going ahead.