What Happened With The NBN This Week?


NBN Co announced new satellite contracts, and Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t happy one single bit about it.

• NBN Co announced that it had awarded a $620 million contract to Space Systems/Loral to build two satellites for provisioning 12/1Mbps broadband to remote communities, although the tenders for launch and maintenance are still up for consideration [Gizmodo]

• Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t happy with the costs of the satellite tender, decrying it as the most expensive option. He stated that the approach was akin to buying yourself a Rolls-Royce when a Camry would do. [ZDNet]

• The costing of the NBN — and the recurring theme/motif of the opposition, in that it claims NBN pricing will be higher for end consumers — was also the topic of a lengthy article written by Malcolm Turnbull at Delimiter. He’s staunchly holding to the view that the NBN, as a monopoly, will inevitably attract higher prices. [Delimiter]

• Optus’ NBN customer plans for consumers were already in the open; this week it announced its plans for small business NBN customers [IT Wire]

• The Queensland government released its plan for NBN usage if it’s returned to power in the upcoming state election. Amongst its aims is to align NBN construction with flood recovery rebuilding. [ZDNet]

• The late John Linton of Exetel was never the NBN’s biggest fan, but this week Exetel cut its NBN plan prices, as well as removing the top tier of its NBN download quotas altogether; clearly it’s still following the Exetel mantra of not chasing the download-heavy customers. Gus at Lifehacker’s got the updated plans in Planhacker. [Lifehacker]

• Telstra announced its half-year results, and along the way, mentioned it was hopeful that the ACCC’s review of its structural separation agreements would be concluded soon. [Herald Sun]

• The government announced a three year trial of virtual English classes delivered via the NBN to new migrants in rural areas at a projected cost of $5.1 million. [Computerworld]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

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