countdown to the election, page-11

I just picked this up from The Australian - about a week old

John Durie: The Australian
July 23, 2010 12:00AM




Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is on record as saying the day he wins government, NBN is finished and the promise to fund the so-called universal service obligation providing communications to regional Australia is dead, buried and cremated.


We also know the opposition is keen on getting more backhaul projects under way, which is smart, but the issue is also being well and truly handled by the NBN.

The election is not going to be won or lost on who has the best telecommunications policy, but clearly the government is streets ahead.

Replacing the NBN with wireless has one second's worth of appeal, until you remember Vodafone is screaming for help from the fibre network, because mobile carriers need something to get traffic back to the network.

Wireless networks are connected by fixed lines.


Even before you get to that point, the opposition has to come up with some sort of plan in terms of what spectrum it proposes using and where it would come from.

It remains to be seen whether the opposition will present its credentials on this issue or simply run an attack on the cost of the NBN.