National Broadband Network Affected by Wireless Connections?

Added by David Sandercock on February 14, 2011

The Gillard government requested a report with regard to the national broadband network (NBN), and following the findings, it revealed that wireless technology could affect the NBN.

The Australian government’s aim is to connect 93 percent of households through optical fiber by year 2020.

The network, worth $36bn, is being built by NBN Co, which hopes to offer high speed connection as much as 1,000 MB per second.  But the analysis reported by the Gillard government, undertaken by Greenhil Caliburn, revealed that the toughest competition for the NBN is wireless technology.

The report of the corporate advisory firm said that “Trends towards `mobile-centric’ broadband networks could also have significant long-term implications for NBN Co’s fiber offerings, to the extent that some consumers may be willing to sacrifice higher-speed fiber transmissions for the convenience of mobile platforms.”

According to the most recent report, NBN Co should keep an eye on households that use wireless connections exclusively. It seems that broadband consumers could turn to wireless if service providers who offer access to the NBN would be of bad quality.

Following the report, Steophen Conroy, the Communications Minister, stated that the Gillard government should have clear performance targets for the national broadband network.