Economy
Bartlett looks at ‘opt-out’ on NBN
THE State Government is considering an “opt-out” rather than the current “opt-in” system to improve the take-up of the new high-speed internet National Broadband Network.
Premier David Bartlett admitted yesterday that only half the 4000 houses eligible for the nation’s first NBN rollout in Tasmania had accepted the offer of cable links into their homes.
Early this month, the rural centres of Smithton and Scottsdale, and Midway Point on Hobart’s outskirts became the first Australian communities to have access to the $43 billion NBN optical fibre system.
Although half of all homes in the three towns now have a cable connecting their new house-mounted connection box to the street wires, many fewer have bought a monthly superfast NBN internet package from a retailer to actually drive their computers.
“I do have some concerns whether the [opt-in] model is the right one or not,” Mr Bartlett said.
“I am now seeking advice as to what we might do in Tasmania to shift that position.”
However, Mr Bartlett said a 50 per cent success rate of NBN fibre-to-the-home connections was still much better than the 17 per cent predicted by some NBN doomsayers recently.
“But we must look at ways we can get that take-up rate even higher; this is infrastructure that will [if installed universally] influence Tasmania’s future for many years to come,” he said.
The overhead NBN cable link is connected free to any home taking up the offer the first time each suburb or town is wired and connected to the NBN.
Earlier: Tassie’s broadband flop