The tender to build the NBN has collapsed because all of the tenders submitted were substantially higher than in the NBN business case.

The $36bn figure that has been presented as the cost of building the NBN is looking like a mirage, with the lowest tenders being in the order of 20% higher.

In one fell swoop this adds more than $7bn to the price tag, and if one includes the $11bn free gift of the Telstra network and other costs, the total cost to the tax payer is heading towards $60bn or $10 000 per household.

It looks at doubling the cost of internet access to city dwellers if this is passed onto consumers.

Yes is true SM that the sale of our profitable communications monopoly to overseas owned private interests by the Howard Gov't has/is proving a stumbling block for the current Gov't in its attempt to restore Australia's communications sovereignty to Australia, through the NBN.

It is also true that the Gov't has opened up the process of tendering for the NBN building contract instead of giving preference to a set of preferred tenderer's as has been the convention so far. As I understand it, it is commercially and financially astute for the Gov't
to seek the best price possible, with regard to the value the taxpayer will get for their investment in building the NBN.

Of course the NBN is not simply an argument about cost SM. Until we actually know what that is compared to the product itself.
The benefits of the NBN may well far outway such one dimensional point scoring at this time, in the end.

Thinker2,

You're right, it is not just about the staggering cost of the exercise,

It is about the nebulous benefits that government has completely failed to identify, and refuses to take to a cost benefit analysis,

It is about creating a huge government owned and funded monopoly,

It is about paying $11bn for the existing network and destroying it to prevent competition,

It is about passing laws that legalise people installing equipment on your property without permission, and requiring you to provide written request not to have trespassers.

It is about putting in laws that make it illegal to compete with the NBN,

And finally it is about delivering a base service in the cities in a few years that costs approximately double what it does today.

Essentially the taxpayer is being raped by having his taxes funnelled into a white elephant, and then having to pay inflated prices for decades later with no alternative.

Thinker2,
I was and still are filthy with the howard government for selling of testra. Just imagine where we would be today if we had been able to hold, rather than sell.

Trouble is, it was the gross mismanagement and waste from the previous labor government that forced howard's hand and, as if this wasn't enough to make one puke, here they are (labor) doing the same thing again a decade or so later.

Trouble is, what's left to sell!

It's all well and good to go out and try to look important and try to run the country when one has money in the bank to start with, however, now that our money is gone and our credit card has decades of debt, with little to show for it, what now.

Let's just take a little look at labor's recent ideas.
1. Insulation - Flop! Cost lives + billions and still counting.
2. Solar - Flop!
3. Fuel watch - Flop!
4. Grocery watch -Flop!
5. I will take charge of the health system myself (rudd) - Flop!
6. Copenhagen - Flop!
7. Boat people - Flop!
8. Mining tax - Flop!
9. Stimulus - Semi Flop!
10.NBN - Looking like a flop.

Now even the most loyal labor supporter must admit that's a pretty poor record for someone in power for less than 4 years.

This NBN is yet another poorly planned idea that labor has jumped in to without doing the research.

All we (the tax payer) wants is value for money and that is something labor simply can not be trusted to deliver.

Even you have to agree with that.

Dear Thinker 2,

I found this on my email sent to me by a colleague from work. It may be of interest to people:

"The Gillard government has managed to pass another milestone in the task of restructuring the telecommunications sector and correcting more than two decades of market failure. This is no mean feet. This was done with 2 bills passing through parliament. The bills establish how the Co. - NBN Co which has been set up to deliver NBN will operate. The bills ensure that NBN Co - operates as an open-access wholesale only network to support vigorous retail level competition for Australian consumers."

"There's no doubt that the NBN will chnage the way we live and work in Australia. It will drive economic growth and open up opportunities for local businesses to expand and reach new markets. It will also mean that our children will get access to education through new delivery models and that all Australians will have access to health care services without leaving home."

Hi Lexi, thanks for your information regarding progress and the NBN in parliament.

I also understand the uptake has been outstanding in the roll out electorates so far.
I think it is really exciting to ponder the possibilities with super fast internet.

And it's true that recent Govt's haven't fared that well Rehctub, but it's also true that the debt level we now have is over emphasised, and a relative inconsequence, in proportion to the debt in other countries. We actually fared very well in relation to other first world countries at the depth of the GFC. And our debt level is minuscule even now, by comparison.

Why not invest in something truly innovative like the NBN ,while we can ?.

As for waste, why not consider the signing by Howard, regarding the U.S. Strike Fighter contracts, (in a motel room) as a waste of public money of massive proportion. Considering that the very same type of un-costed open ended contracts over the very same aircraft, have now caused the un-seating of the Canadian Gov't through a successful no confidence motion in it's Parliament. Or similar ?.

Had we had the tender process requested by the defence people at that time, we would have discovered that there are better aircraft anyway, that are not still on the drawing board, that also have stealth capability, equal or better strike power, and greater range.

How many billions, is the get out clause ?. Probably more than enough to pay for the NBN.