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Category: Telecommunications / Information and Communication / Federal Government

NBN boss says broadband rollout on time and budget

Friday, 9 Sep 2016 07:59:57 | Peter Ryan

NBN boss Bill Morrow said 40 per cent of customers will have one gigabit a second. (Sarina Locke)

The multi-billion-dollar rollout of the National Broadband Network remains on track and on budget, according to chief executive Bill Morrow.

Mr Morrow has told the ABC's AM program that the highly political project will be complete by 2020 and he remains confident the $49 billion budget will not blow out.

"The amount of taxpayer equity that is put into NBN is capped at $29.5 billion. The amount of peak funding that we'll use before operating cash flow positive is $49 billion," Mr Morrow said.

"We're on track with that and I have a high degree of confidence that we'll meet that."

While sounding upbeat and positive, Mr Morrow would comment on whether he would need to go to the Government for additional money if the peak funding runs out in 2017.

"Honestly, I let the political issues be dealt with by the politicians. I'm a business person and I'm quite confident with the commitments that we're making," Mr Morrow said.

"We're quite confident about the numbers that we've put together.

"We now have contracts in place to complete the entire build and this in the first time that we've had that so we've removed most of the uncertainty."

Given the highly political nature of the NBN, Mr Morrow is under pressure to deliver on expectations as concerns remain that the cheaper rollout will leave Australia lagging behind other developed nations in terms of quality and speed.

External Link: Peter Ryan speaks with NBN CEO Bill Morrow

But Mr Morrow said that, when the NBN is completed n 2020, Australia will be a world leader in broadband.

"We're making so much momentum and well on track to be the first continent to have a fully connected universal broadband that has 25 megabits a second or better," he argued.

"On the speed, 40 per cent of the nation when we're done will have access to a gigabit per second, and that's better than better than any other nation will be at that year 2020."

The current NBN rollout is a revised version that does not deliver "fibre to the home", as under Labor's more costly blueprint.

But Mr Morrow denied that the less expensive version, which is a patchwork of technologies, could see the NBN below standard by 2020.

"I don't think we're unique in that sense. You look around the world and it's a multitude of technologies. They have their own multi technology mix just like we're deploying here," he responded.

"The only difference is that we're making sure every home here in the country gets it and doing it at record pace."

Mr Morrow is now focussing on selling the NBN to small and medium businesses, including startups, urging them to "get your NBN strategy in place."

In a speech to be delivered to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce today, Mr Morrow says the NBN is critical to businesses starting up on garages and bedrooms.

"Think about it. We'll be able to reach 23, 24 million people right from your bedroom," he said.

"That's an opportunity they very few people have had and I think we're going to see entrepreneurs reach for the sky and say there's no limit to what I can do with my idea."

Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his Main Street blog.

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