Contractors selected to roll-out the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN or NBN Co.), which aims to bring fast internet to remote areas, have been delayed by new requirements that need to show how regional areas will be prioritised.
The shortlist of contractors selected by NBN Co. were originally expected to put forward their submissions for the fibre-to-the-home access network on Sept. 24, but tenders are delayed to Oct. 22 because of added requirements.
The contractors will be announced by the end of the year, but the final decision will not be known until early next year.
The $43 billion project played a key role in the 2007 election of the Labor Government, which promised internet to virtually every part of Australia.
Now, the key concern for contractors will be finding skilled workers in regional areas and dealing with the likelihood of rising costs.
“What the project will need in terms of labour with the right expertise for underground construction, fibre splicing, and aerial network construction in some of these (more remote) areas will definitely cost more to provide and we will have to reflect those higher costs in our final submissions (to the NBN company),” the head of one contracting company, who declined to be named, told The Australian.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Thursday night that NBN would not be affected by the cost or timing in the decision to prioritise regional areas.
But talk of the skill shortage and delays prompted opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull to call for “a new and urgent analysis of the NBN.”
Mr Turnbull said the government’s thrust to bring forward construction plans for wireless connectivity in remote areas, and the $11bn heads of agreement NBN Co. has struck with Telstra, had not been reflected in any analysis of the NBN, The Australian reported.
The shortlist of contractors selected by NBN Co. were originally expected to put forward their submissions for the fibre-to-the-home access network on Sept. 24, but tenders are delayed to Oct. 22 because of added requirements.
The contractors will be announced by the end of the year, but the final decision will not be known until early next year.
The $43 billion project played a key role in the 2007 election of the Labor Government, which promised internet to virtually every part of Australia.
Now, the key concern for contractors will be finding skilled workers in regional areas and dealing with the likelihood of rising costs.
“What the project will need in terms of labour with the right expertise for underground construction, fibre splicing, and aerial network construction in some of these (more remote) areas will definitely cost more to provide and we will have to reflect those higher costs in our final submissions (to the NBN company),” the head of one contracting company, who declined to be named, told The Australian.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Thursday night that NBN would not be affected by the cost or timing in the decision to prioritise regional areas.
But talk of the skill shortage and delays prompted opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull to call for “a new and urgent analysis of the NBN.”
Mr Turnbull said the government’s thrust to bring forward construction plans for wireless connectivity in remote areas, and the $11bn heads of agreement NBN Co. has struck with Telstra, had not been reflected in any analysis of the NBN, The Australian reported.
