NBN chief claims broadband network’s roll out costs a non-issue for now
Wary of sending out a wrong signal, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley refused to divulge the exact cost of the initial National Broadband Network three sites roll out in Tasmania, stressing that cost speculation is purely non-sense.
Even amidst the opposition being raised by the Coalition against the $43 billion NBN project, the federal government has commenced connecting households in Tasmania while Communications Minister Stephen Conroy ramped up government's plan to spread out the NBN's reach by re-filing a bill that would call for the partitioning of Telstra.
Mr Conroy said on Wednesday that once passed, the bill would pave the way for the fast-tracked establishment of the NBN network as he called on hi colleagues in the parliament to approve the bill that he said would also provide wide array of choices for broadband users in Australia.
He added that the reinvigorated bill carries the essential reforms that would address the long-term shortcomings of the country's telecommunications regulatory regime as he reminded the opposition that the initiative is too important to be subjected to unnecessary delays.
On the other hand, Mr Quigley refused to budge on Coalition senators prodding to reveal the NBN roll out cost in Tasmania, arguing that such revelations could be misinterpreted but he assured that the program has been proceeding on time and within its specified budget.
The NBN chief revealed though that a business plan would be presented by Friday this week, which was being demanded by the opposition for some time now, but Mr Quigley noted that plan would be available for government scrutiny until next week while the government remains mum on when the plan would be made public.
Amidst Mr Conroy's accusation that the Coalition is taking pains to derail the NBN's implementation, the federal government admitted that it has been courting the Governor-General to issue a decree that would insulate the NBN from inquiry by the Public Works Committee of the parliament.
However, opposition communication spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is devising ways to circumvent that process by convincing independent lawmakers to initiate a joint committee that would be tasked to supervise the NBN roll out, which was rejected by independent MP Bob Katter.