Lexi,

It shows how desperate you are. He owned the shares in IT companies long before the NBN, and if the Labor government is going to throw billions at the IT industry his company will make a profit.

If you take an idiot's money, it does not make you think he is not an idiot.

"Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a doorstop interview today that a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) policy for the National Broadband Network (NBN) could possibly end up costing around the same as the current fibre to the premises (FTTP) policy in the long run.

When questioned whether the costs in maintaining and replacing parts of the ageing copper infrastructure for premises will end up costing more than the current NBN, where the copper will be replaced with fibre in one go, Turnbull said that “probably the prudent thing to do is say it’ll cost you the same.”

He said the Coalition’s $17 billion in savings compared to Labor’s cost for the NBN could eventually be spent over time once demand for faster broadband speeds is proven if fibre to the premises needs to be put in place".

Even our Kiwi cousins have admitted that their introduction of FTTN was a waste of money and are changing over to to FTTH.

The real reason for this so-called alternative is simply to nobble it for Uncle Rupert to make some more money while he can.

There is (typically) so much technical garbage spouted in these forums by people simpley wanting to take a purely political stance.

Rache,

For the FTTN to cost as much as the FTTP, the assumption is that eventually every premises will be connected by fiber. This is possible, but highly improbable.

The single biggest factor driving cost and schedule in this project is the availability of trained and experienced contractors. The project is only about 25% complete and severely over cost from what was projected a couple of years ago, and already we have seen the consequences of using inexperienced contractors with the asbestos issue. Another consequence is the costs these contractors charge has already escalated due to demand.

At the present rate of construction, most people will not get fast broadband before 2020, or closer to 2030. With FTTN, the roll out will be much faster, and a fraction of the cost and for about $60bn cheaper.

Considering that about 15% of existing households don't even use any internet connection, only 25% are prepared to pay for superfast broadband, and the growth of wireless only households as wireless costs drop and speed increases is projected to reach 25% by 2020, the rolling out of fiber to every house is a very poor investment.

Dear SM,

<<the assumption is that eventually every premises will be connected by fiber. This is possible, but highly improbable.>>...<<only 25% are prepared to pay for superfast broadband>>

But nobody is going to ask you whether you want it or not - Big Brother needs this bandwidth to monitor all its surveillance devices in your home. That's why they have it in the first place, so they know for example if your kid tells you that what they are taught in school is wrong, or if you nod in agreement.