TECHNOLOGY SPECTATOR: Abbott's circuit breaker

Australians must figure out if they want the NBN in its current form or not, because Tony Abbott sure doesn't.

Technology Spectator's NBN Buzz column is a weekly wrap up of everthing that's going on with Australia's biggest ever infrastructure project.

Technology Spectator

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott certainly raised the stakes in the broadband debate by suggesting that a Coalition government would strongly consider throwing the NBN contracts out. Given the real prospect that Abbott could be Australia's next prime minister, the comments appeared in a number of broadband commentaries this week and even influenced NBN Co's negotiations with Telstra.

Cancelling contracts would be an enormously expensive exercise and gives voters even more incentive to decide for themselves whether the current government's approach is the right one.

US-based telecommunications analyst Fred Golstein had this to say: "It strikes me that the Australian NBN choice of technologies to reach 100 per cent of the population is quite well optimised. It stands in stark contrast to the US model, in which policies are based on nod-and-wink expressions of faith (that competition magically happens) and a heavy flow of subsidy cash (to incumbents).”