NBN Co will not recover at least $31 billion the government invested to build the network in aIn a new draft pricing proposal lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week, the government-owned company said it would no longer seek to recover the full $44 billion sunk into the initial build and instead would only claw back $12.5 billion from retail internet providers.
The regulatory write-off comes largely down to the shock reset of NBN Co’s policy aims in August, when Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the company would stay in public hands He thought the ICRA contraction was a “politically palatable” solution that would push any conversation about a writedown out to 2040, which is when the pricing proposal is set to expire.
“Our proposed SAU Variation puts the responsibility and investment risk on NBN to meet the expected growth in data demand over the next two decades, while earning the minimum revenues required to invest in the network to deliver faster speeds and greater capacity,” NBN Co said.Vocus – Australia’s fourth-largest telco and
Optus regulatory affairs boss Andrew Sheridan, however, said the proposal “positively responds to the government’s request for a reset” and that the telco would engage “constructively” throughout the process.NBN Co’s pricing submission to the ACCC is just the first stage of the process, with the regulator to host a round of consultation with industry stakeholders in 2023 before coming to a final decision on the matter.
If the Libs didn't come in and blow out the costs to deliver a sub-par network, then it would've been able to recoup the cost.
Does anyone realise/care that's a huge chunk of taxpayer money they're writing off, an amount we all need to work harder (or be luckier) to cover?
Wow- good thing government is now focussed on energy infrastructure ….