The cost of connecting each home and business to the fibre-optic national broadband network has dropped to less than $2500 and key financial estimates of the project remain largely unchanged, according to a leaked copy of NBN Co's latest three-year plan.
However, new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he does not believe the figures...
Mr Turnbull also confirmed this week that fibre-to-the-home connections already under construction would be completed, affecting about 300,000 premises, but the new government would wait for the outcome of a 60-day strategic review before deciding whether to proceed with the rest of the fibre-to-the-home rollout.
...
Mr Turnbull called for its release during the election, but did not release it either when he received a copy as part of his incoming ministerial briefing last week. Fairfax Media obtained a copy this week and
published it in full online (PDF).
NBN Co has found the average cost of running fibre from a 'fibre access node' to inside a premise has decreased from $7,400 during trial period to between $2,200 and $2,500, depending on traffic management and rock drilling at each site. NBN Co also makes clear that once it estimates and fixes the cost of connecting each house in a rollout zone, the contractor ''bears the risk in relation to any variance in the mix of infrastructure, and the level of boring and trenching that is required'', but the final cost depends on traffic management and rock drilling.
...
The report also shows that while take-up rates were slower in the first rollout zones, particularly Tasmania's first three sites, it has been much faster in later rollout sites. For example, a quarter of households in Coffs Harbour signed up for an NBN fibre service with 22 weeks, and in the Canberra suburb of Crace 36 per cent had a service within 23 weeks. But in Smithton on Tasmania's north coast less than a quarter of premises had a fibre service 150 weeks after the rollout occurred.
On average NBN customers download 47 gigabytes (GB) of data per month, about 16GB more than the national average, and more than half were using the two fastest plans available, which offer peak speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) or 100Mbps.
Average revenue per user is expected to be $42 per month in 2013 and to increase to $64 per month in 2021 as consumers buy more and faster broadband-delivered products and businesses take up services such as ''committed information rate'' traffic.
NBN Co still expects about 74 per cent of the households within the fibre footprint to use its network, while the remaining premises would either be vacant or use mobile-only connections.
Forum
Pages: 
