AVC
The NBN legacy – Rising prices and falling global rankings
Remember when the NBN was going to bring Australia a feast of fast and affordable broadband? Then how is it that Australia is 82rd in the world and falling ever further behind? And how is it that broadband bills keep rising in Australia while falling around the world?
Bob James and I have written many times over more than a decade about the failings the structure and level of NBN pricing. The time seemed right to remind people of why we are in the present situation. See The NBN Legacy_Final
Open letter to NBN
Professor Rod Tucker and I may disagree about the NBN’s technology mix but we have found common cause in the problems with the current business model and how to fix it.
We argue that the volume of data transferred should be the basis of wholesale charges for the NBN, not the bandwidth provided to the user.
We also argue that all users should have full access to the bandwidth capabilities of the particular technology connecting their premises.
For more, read How to fix the NBN
Price rebalancing to make the NBN affordable
It is not generally appreciated that the nbn™ has never claimed that CVC is backhaul. It says it is only a pricing construct. This is a follow-up to last week’s column ((the Blame Game – Cutting teh Gordina Knot) explaining how CVCs introduces congestion when it does not have to. There is a better way to charge for usage that will unleash the economic potential of the NBN. See Economuse 2017-8-10
The blame game – Cutting the Gordian Knot
Who is to blame for poor speed and poor performance on the NBN? The pricing of the NBN is certainly knotted. It is more complex than it needs to be and that complexity leads to the current arguments about speed and performance.
VHA’s public submission to the nbn seems to have influenced its CEO, Bill Morrow, in his announcement that he will be looking to revise pricing to “have a minimum assurance of a certain quality of product”. But, VHA’s proposed rebalancing of NBN pricing would some matters worse.
There is a simpler pricing regime that will improve both speed and performance and remove the blame from the nbn.
NBN Co. fiddles while Roma buffers
The two major problems with the National Broadband Network business model are the pricing structure and the future level of prices.
In November 2016, the nbn conducted its third secret consultation on CVCs; a controversial aspect of its pricing structure. It is still fiddling with a hopeless construct. The pricing structure is too complex, does not lead to affordable retail prices and will not lead to the transformational outcomes expected from this broadband project.
Worse, the nbn clings to the hope that it can turn a profit on a very expensive project which was priced initially to smooth migration from legacy copper networks. This will mean increasing wholesale revenues per line (ARPU) over time; which has not been the case historically for broadband ARPU.
For more on the latest consultation, read economuse-2016-11-30