Sure, the only boondoggle that is near as bad as the NBN would have to be the sheltered workshop plan to spend $50billion (and who knows what the real cost would end up being) to keep Chrissy Pyne in his seat in SA by building French barracudas in the mendicant state. Oh and instead of the nukes they were designed around they have to be redesigned to be retrofitted with diesel electric. It’s just embarrassing.
Turnbull brief was not to destroy it, but reign the cost in. Like everything else he touches, he didn’t manage it. And as for costing more than the original proposal, I would remind you that red underpants Conroy and Swan weren’t the best at working out how much things cost. And that is being generous. Think of the four years of budget surpluses Swan claimed to have delivered, in forecast of course. I suspect they knew full well they were full of shit but did not care. In political terms it is called a boondoggle, or if you are about to lose government, a land mine for an incoming government. See also Gonski and NDIS. Introduce expensive programs, have a fantasy cost, and don’t budget for it and let the next lot of pricks try to pay for it.
Nobody disputes FTTH would be faster than 5G. Of course it ALWAYS will be. And yes, fibre would connect the cell towers. If the NBN fibre was to go to anything, it would be cell towers, hospitals and schools. Maybe business districts, but limited. Beyond that wireless would predominate, and anyone that wanted fibre speed could pay for it themselves.
But just like we don’t all drive Mercedes, and some of us drive Korean cars, not everyone can justify the cost of the highest speeds possible. Use of wireless and especially with 5G will always be a better cost/benefit proposition that a fibre only solution. Given the nature of our demographics and landmass this will always be the case. And that is even before you get to the reality that the NBN was never, ever going to provide FTTH outside major urban centres.
I was at an emergency services planning meeting where the NBN made a presentation late last year. The NBN issue with cyclones is you can lose power for weeks. Anyone with NBN has to have battery backup to access phone services, unlike the old copper line. Problem is, you never know the state of everyone’s battery, or how long it will work. The NBN advised, get this, that people in cyclone areas should probably continue to pay for the landline access even after the NBN service was installed. So on top of the NBN charge, another $30 a month. What a great solution. Not.
