Alliance for Affordable Broadband proposes new broadband plan for Australia

In Australia, an alliance of telcos has derailed talks over who will form the next government with its proposal of a new broadband plan that appears more aligned with the Coalition's policy than the Labor party's national broadband network.

The Alliance for Affordable Broadband comprising telcos including Allegro Networks, PIPE Networks, BigAir, Vocus Communications, AAPT, Polyfone and EFTEL has put forward the proposal of a government-subsidised fibre backhaul but recommends that the country be connected with a fourth-generation (4G) national wireless broadband network.

According to the Labour government-funded plan 93 per cent of homes would be connected with fibre-optic cables, but the alternative plan, on similar lines to the Coalition's envisages connection of homes via a new wireless broadband network. The 4G network would connect 98 per cent of Australians and speeds on the network would be up to 100Mbps.

The release of the broadband manifesto comes at the same time as meetings between key independents and members of the government and NBN Co. Analysts say the independents would decide who would form the next government with broadband emerging as a key factor in negotiations.

"We believe the argument for a national fibre-only NBN solution has failed to convince," the alliance of telcos said in a statement released yesterday.

"A well-informed independent member of Parliament might wisely favour an NBN version 3 public-private model on a mix of technology, with deliverables within a term, over a more costly and more risky eight-plus years NBN 2.0 rollout."