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April 9th, 2013 
BOTH major parties promise faster broadband to Australians, but it’s the choice of infrastructure that will determine future speeds and reliability in the decades ahead.
The coalition released its long-awaited policy on the national broadband network (NBN) on Tuesday after two years of haranguing the federal government over the delivery and cost of its scheme.
The policy follows opposition communication spokesman Malcolm Turnbull’s script in offering a plan for a cheaper network that he says will be built sooner than the government’s NBN.
The coalition’s NBN is projected to cost $29.5 billion and be completed by 2019.
Labor’s NBN is expected to cost $44.1 billion and be finished two years later.
The main point of difference is how it is built.
Under the coalition plan, fibre broadband cables would be rolled out to the node (FTTN), a cabinet on a street corner, with Telstra’s copper network connecting to the home.
This would be cheaper and quicker to roll out but would offer lower speeds.
Downloads would be slower the further a house or business was from a node.
Mr Turnbull said most Australians would have access to download speeds of 50 Mbps, while a minority would have a minimum 25 Mbps.
Labor is rolling out fibre to the premises (FTTP), which will give the same download speeds to all premises along the cable.
It’s current NBN plan is offering up to 100 Mbps.
There is an even bigger gap in upload speeds between the two technologies, with FTTP much faster.
However, the coalition would offer companies and households the chance to get faster speeds, if they pay for fibre to be rolled to their premises at an estimated cost of about $5000.
Some people already have the faster speeds without the extra expense, with the NBN fibre-cable rollout that began in 2010 in Tasmania.
The rollout has been plagued by setbacks but it’s due to pass 341,000 premises – but not necessarily connect them all – about the time of the September 14 federal election.
Another problem for FTTN is the deterioration of copper over time and the cost of maintaining it.
Rod Tucker, director of the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne, says the coalition’s broadband plan will give people what they pay for.
“It is a less expensive solution that will last a little bit into the future, but not future-proof like the more expensive solution (Labor’s NBN),” Prof Tucker told AAP.
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