Australia: Joint committee calls two NBN inquiries into business case, regional deployment

The Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee into the National Broadband Network is poised to drill down deep into the operator’s business case and its rural & regional rollout over the next three months.

 Following up on recommendations from last year’s report into the NBN, terms of reference have just been released into two separate inquiries to be undertaken by the committee this quarter.

The first, into the NBN business case, will “inquire into the rollout of the National Broadband Network and the overall long term inancial outlook for NBN Co, including the forecasts in relation to: revenue generation; the key inancial indicators in the Corporate Plan 2018-2021, and underlying inancial forecasts out to 2040; the competitive risks facing the multi-technology mix; the impact of alternate pricing structures on the economics of the NBN; and other matters relevant to the commercial viability of NBN, the Commonwealth’s accounting treatment of government debt/ investment in NBN, and the prospect of future sale, in whole or part, of NBN.”

The second will inquire into the rollout of the NBN in rural and regional areas, speciically focussed on the capacity and reliability of satellite, ixed wireless and ixed line networks, in particular planning, mapping and eligibility; adequacy of plans and service reliability; issues in relation to the future capacity of such services; provision of service by alternative providers; and any other related matters.

The closing date for submissions is 29 March but no information on hearings or reporting dates has yet been made available. The Joint Committee made a series of recommendations last year including a call for an independent audit into the NBN and the establishment of a rural and remote communications reference group.

The majority report, informed by opposition and crossbench members, was rejected by government members. This followed 15 public hearings and the consideration of 191 public submissions.

The committee in 2018 will be comprised of 17 parliamentarians, chaired by Liberal MP Sussan Ley. The members are comprised of six from the Coalition, seven from Labor and four from the cross-bench. Grahame Lynch, Commsday.