NBN: Lateline questions asked

From Lateline interview. Mr Albanese vs Mr Turnbull on NBN, Mon 12-Aug-2013

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Here is our NBN debate with the Deputy PM and Communications Minister Anthony Albanese, and the Opposition's Communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull.
Gentlemen, welcome.

EMMA ALBERICI: I'd like us to cover three broad areas tonight.
The various costs of your NBN - respective NBN - policies,
the time frame which you expect to be able to deliver those in, and
the technologies which will be afforded by your various incarnations of the NBN.

EMMA ALBERICI: Let me start with you, Mr Albanese, and specifically with one of the key issues, that is: you want to take fibre directly to people's homes.
Mr Turnbull on the other hand thinks it's best to take it to the street corner, the so called nodes.
Tell us first of all, why is it important to take fibre all the way to people's homes?

EMMA ALBERICI: We'll get a chance to discuss all of those.
Mr Turnbull, why do you say your fibre to the node, to the street corner is better?

EMMA ALBERICI: Are you saying it can deliver the same thing?

EMMA ALBERICI: And I think it's fair to say they're doing that because that's what they can afford. Let's go to the next point.

EMMA ALBERICI: Let's talk about how much the various policies are going to cost.
Anthony Albanese, is the government still confident that it can connect fibre to 8.5 million premises by 2021 for the sum total of $37.4 billion?

EMMA ALBERICI: You said 100

EMMA ALBERICI: No, I'm talking about - let's take this one at a time.

EMMA ALBERICI: We'll talk to Malcolm Turnbull about his plan. Can we talk about yours?

EMMA ALBERICI: No, I want to talk about yours.
Will you commit to be able to deliver by 2021 8.5 million premises

EMMA ALBERICI: ... with fibre for $37.4 billion sum total?

EMMA ALBERICI: OK. We'll move on.

EMMA ALBERICI: Ok so you're sticking by those figures.
Now, Malcolm Turnbull, you say Labor's project will in fact cost $94 billion to complete and that yours will be $29.5 billion on the other hand.
Now, where do those figures come from, considering you've had no access to the NBN Co accounts or to its commercial agreements?

EMMA ALBERICI: Can answer my direct question, which is, where do you get the $94 billion from first of all?

EMMA ALBERICI: The revenues?

EMMA ALBERICI: But we're talking about the cost.

EMMA ALBERICI: You've said their project will cost $94 billion.
Which is different to revenue.

EMMA ALBERICI: Let's not confuse the issues here.
It's already confusing enough.

EMMA ALBERICI: Isn't the cost just what it costs to build the net work?

EMMA ALBERICI: No but I'd like to.
Because it was on the front page of many newspapers, it was trumpeted by yourself on your blog that this instead of costing 37-odd billion was going to cost 94 billion.
And curious to know where you get those figures.

EMMA ALBERICI: Mr Albanese, are they wrong?

EMMA ALBERICI: You reject the $94 billion figure?

EMMA ALBERICI: Can we get to that - no we're not talking about what it's going to cost ...

EMMA ALBERICI: You're talking about revenue and my question was about the cost of construction.
We need to be comparing apples with apples if we're going to have coherent debate.
Let me continue.
Mr Turnbull, how can the coalition claim to be able to deliver an NBN faster and cheaper without the cost benefit analysis that you claim the government didn't do itself in the first place?

EMMA ALBERICI: Is it still going to be cheaper given what's already under way and the contracts that have already been signed and do your figures also take account of the fact that you will be having to pay Telstra, presumably, to maintain that extra copper?

EMMA ALBERICI: Mr Albanese, let me put something to you.
Because you recently said that connection to Labor's NBN was free.
But households will be charged to access it, won't they?

EMMA ALBERICI: The connection is free?

EMMA ALBERICI: It's accessible but it's not free?

EMMA ALBERICI: Is that for the full 100 megabits per second or ...

EMMA ALBERICI: 1,000, sorry.

EMMA ALBERICI: Will you be releasing it before the election?

EMMA ALBERICI: Do you have reason to believe they have received it?

EMMA ALBERICI: When you say final business plan, how is that different to the final business plan that was presented in December 2010.
Plans are normally done beforehand, aren't they, not during a project?

EMMA ALBERICI: So it's to June 30?

EMMA ALBERICI: And we're now August 12.
Haven't received it yet?

EMMA ALBERICI: Have you got a date for receiving it?

EMMA ALBERICI: Let me make a point, Mr Turnbull, because I think I understand where the discrepancy lies here, and that is that under your plan, fibre won't be going all the way to the home.

EMMA ALBERICI: How much will it cost if a household does want to upgrade at some point in the future to be able to access fibre directly to their home?

EMMA ALBERICI: Will they also allow the 1,000 megabits?
The one gigabit?

EMMA ALBERICI: Sorry, who's going to be paying $20,000 a month?

EMMA ALBERICI: I think we're getting a little too technical for the purposes of this discussion because ...

EMMA ALBERICI: I don't want to talk about pipes.

EMMA ALBERICI: For the average household?

EMMA ALBERICI: Mr Albanese, do you actually know much a household would have to spend to access 1,000 megabits, one gigabit?

EMMA ALBERICI: Do you have an estimate?

EMMA ALBERICI: Well what's the wholesale price for one gigabit?

EMMA ALBERICI: Are you going to answer my question, first of all? Sorry.

EMMA ALBERICI: Doesn't that exist in your plans, an indication of what that will cost?

EMMA ALBERICI: Let me put it this way:
 is it fair to say that the fundamental difference between the two parties' policies is that Labor wants to socialise the infrastructure and the Coalition prefers a user pays system?

EMMA ALBERICI: A final comment, Mr Albanese.
Tell us why do Australian households actually need one gigabit?

EMMA ALBERICI: But one gigabit?

EMMA ALBERICI: You talk a lot about other countries, Mr Turnbull, but I would point out that the Nordic countries are pioneers and in fact just in the last few months, Sweden, the Swedish Government announced that its aim was to have 90 per cent of households by 2020 with fibre to the premises.

EMMA ALBERICI: A very brief final word, Anthony Albanese?

EMMA ALBERICI: We have to wrap it there, unfortunately.
I thank you both so much for coming in this evening.