In the latest round of finger pointing and blame sharing for the failures of the National Broadband network, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pointed the finger at NBN Co and the telcos while once again defending the network’s technology.
“[NBN Co has] got to improve the installation experience. That’s a people management, a process management issue. And they’re getting on top of that,” Mr Turnbull said in an interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.
“People are being told by the telecom retailers that they’re going to get speeds which are not being delivered at peak times. And we’ve got a number of changes to ensure that that problem doesn’t continue,” said Mr Turnbull.
“We are restructuring it to make it more transparent so that people will know that, if they’re not getting the right deal, it is a Telstra or an Optus or a TPG problem.”
Mr Turnbull’s statements are similar to those expressed last month by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) who accused the telecommunication companies of advertising unrealistic speeds to sell their NBN services.
Mr Turnbull also took the time to dispel a few myths about where Australia actually sat in the world in regard to internet speeds, suggesting recent reports showing Australia was outside the top 50 in the world were not correct. The widely reported rankings show a country such as Kenya sitting above Australia, even though only about 1.5 per cent of the population have and can afford the internet, compared to a 90 per cent figure in Australia.
What do you think? Should the Federal Government be held responsible for the failures of NBN Co and telcos or is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull right to pass the buck?
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