SMH: Wotif founder challenges NBN cost

One of Australia’s leading online entrepreneurs has questioned the government’s sums on the national broadband network (NBN), saying the return on investment just doesn’t add up.

Wotif founder Graeme Wood, who opened the 21st World Computer Congress in Brisbane on Monday, says the $43 billion NBN is great for business and education.

But he’s questioned the need for such high speeds for private use.

“I think it’s a brilliant thing for business but where’s the analysis to say the investment is worth it for non-business users (or) private use,” Mr Wood said.

“If all you do is download the same stuff - only faster - how can you justify that as an investment?

“If the mix of the normal usage - email, music, video, Facebook, gaming, stays the same, but just happens faster - is there an economic or social benefit in that for the private user?”

Thoughts:

• The commercial services that will fully utilise speeds granted by the NBN haven’t been thought of yet.
• The title “One of Australia’s leading online entrepreneurs” didn’t exist 15 years ago.
• Given his success and history in the sector, this is kind of disappointing.

Also, we gotta get off this $43 Billion bandwagon.

$43 Billion is the worst case estimate for the entire project when no agreement had yet been reached with Telstra to share infrastructure. Even then the total investment from Government was probably $26 Billion.

Such an agreement now exists to the tune of $11 Billion. This means NBNCo. can use Telstra pipes, pits and exchanges (and of course, this also means that Telstra can now line up as a reseller, just like any other ISP). This agreement also migrates all our (Telstra’s) telephony to the NBN, just like it should be.

Everyone just needs to breathe. The NBN isn’t about “1.21 Jigawatts of downloads!!!”. It’s about equality in communications throughout our country.