NBN DUMPING HFC FOR MORE COPPER

Senate scrutiny has revealed NBN began dumping some of its HFC footprint for copper as early as October 2017 – only fifty days after the release of its Corporate Plan, and a month before the public announcement that the HFC rollout was being halted due to ongoing dropouts and unreliable service.

 

 | Technology | Design/construction or ready for service (As of 20 October 2017) | Corporate Plan base case (July 2020)
 | FTTP | 1.9 mil | 1.9 mil
 | FTTN/B | 4.8 mil | 4.6 mil
 | HFC | 2.7 mil | 3.1 mil
 | FTTC | 1.0 mil | 1.0 mil

 

This evidence suggests 200,000 homes had already been dumped from HFC and converted to copper by that time, a disconnect between what was communicated to the public and what was happening on the ground.

 

Despite being supplied with most of this data from NBNCo last year, Mitch Fifield delayed the release of this information until 22 February 2018

 

Labor calls on the Turnbull Government to end its copper deployment which has become a liability to both consumers and taxpayers.

 

If NBNCo finds itself being crippled by spiralling HFC costs, then at a minimum the HFC they plan to dump should be switched to Fibre to the Curb.

 

When Turnbull’s fall-back option is to deploy more copper, it shows how short-sighted and desperate his multi-technology mess has become.