Former PM Malcolm Turnbull stood on a soapbox in 2013 spraying the Australian public with tales of delivering the NBN faster and doing it cheaper using a multi-technology-mix (MTM) strategy instead of the originally proposed fibre to the premise model.
His argument was then the subject of a strategic review of which the savings were conveniently redacted. The justification of the time is that they needed to remain secret in order to “negotiate or renegotiate any associated contracts”.
Today those figures have finally surfaced with The Ages & SMH revealing that the cost of fibre installs were predicted to drop under a redesigned plan.
Savings worth $850 to $1150 were estimated to be achievable for each existing home attached with fibre under the radically redesigned plan. These savings included the use of more cost-efficient network architecture and materials worth $300 to $450 per home or business, a further $50 to $100 from cost-efficient construction techniques and $500 to $600 from increased labour productivity.
Turnbull, still claims the MTM was the right approach and without it our shift to remote working from 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic would’ve been impossible with his belief being a fibre rollout would still be in progress today.
You know what they say about opinions though Malcolm?
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald