Interesting how most public schools are rejecting the NBN as unnecessary.

The NBN is another example of a poorly planned and executed Labor Government project. The supposed benefits are ill-defined. That such a vast capital outlay is to be made without a cost benefit analysis, is plainly irrational. Progress on the project to date indicates that it will run years late, total capital outlay would more than double, and that much higher wholesale prices would be needed to recover capital invested. We would inherit the highest broadband prices in the developed world, unless a large proportion of the capital investment is written off.

The Coalition's latest plan for the structure of the NBN does not inspire confidence.

It is imperative that regardless of whether Labor is voted out or not, a rigorous cost benefit analysis of the various NBN options be carried out as a matter of urgency.

Gawd 'elp us! If this is what the good Dr Leigh thinks passes for an economic argument then perhaps it's just as well he's no longer teaching.

I'm sure that many schools would love to have fibre. I'm also sure they'd rather have lots of other things that could be bought with the enormous amount of money that is being thrown down the ducts of the NBN.

However, that's of little import. This is to be a network that primarily services homes. I can readily see the potential benefits of a vast increase in bandwidth for commercial and other corporate entities, but I have yet to be given a credible benefit that will flow from giving every home the same capacity as an enterprise with several hundred users. What next are we to be promised? A bus in every driveway, perhaps? Think of all the things that might be possible if you have the capacity to transport 80 people wherever you go! The possibilities are endless. It would end the need for all those messy public transport interconnections and noone would ever have to wait for a bus again, not to mention that no child would ever face being left behind because there's no room in the car! As for taxis and trains, these are old technology which the NBusN will rightfully make obsolete. The productivity increase would be huge.

Or not.

Perhaps Dr Leigh might turn his thoughts to just what those nebulous "future applictions" that he claims must exist might be? Other places in the world, such as South Korea, parts of Europe and the US, Japan, all have broadband networks that exceed the 100Mb/s limit promised by the NBN and have done so for some time, using either FTTN, HFC or variants of xDSL. What applications have emerged that they can use and we can't? As Dr Leigh is an economist, perhaps he can quantify the economic benefits that have accrued due to a ubiquitous high bandwidth connection to the home?