Emboldened by his performance in the ABC Lateline debate with Turnbull - after which Turnbull was rushing to revisit the issues he felt weren't addressed properly - communications minister Stephen Conroy floated a raft of NBN-related statistics that he said confirmed the project has been a success, with local takeup over 25% after 12 months. By comparison, US carrier Verizon took three years to reach 24.4% takeup. Some were sceptical of the figures, while others were criticising the project's speed tiering and encouraging the company to remove its speed limits altogether. NBN Co defended its model, arguing that it was intended to drive takeup of the network.
Some commentators, however, took the figures as a sign things weren't going so well for NBN Co. And the network had its detractors, though, such as the 65-year-old Brunswick, Victoria resident who decided the network hasn't been worth the trouble to switch over to. Others were getting stuck into the company for its lack of transparency, a recurring theme of late as Optus wrote to the ACCC for access to NBN Co financials to ensure the company isn't overcharging its wholesale customers, but was knocked back.
Questions over access to NBN Co information were a recurring theme, with many observers looking for more detail after the company loudly-proclaimed success in announcing that the total number of premises in areas where construction had commenced or completed was 784,592 by the end of 2012 - exceeding its estimates of 758,000. Turnbull was unconvinced and accused NBN Co of fudging its numbers to make them higher than they really were, even as NBN Co pushed into Blacktown, Western Sydney and announced at January's end that it had reached 10,000 active fibre connections, 34,500 premises activated and 339,700 lots passed by the end of 2012.
Whether or not its figures were fudged, critics were up in arms after it was revealed the government is paying a $108 bounty to ISPs for every customer they connect to the NBN. Conroy was noncommittal when asked whether this would see lower prices for consumers. NBN Co also copped flak over figures suggesting it's outspending other government departments - and even Telstra - on staff training.
For its part, NBN Co kept on with business, making new board appointments, making head of construction Dan Flemming redundant after just 18 months in the job, and trialling its highly sought-after multicast technology in a 50-dwelling test in Rhodes, in western Sydney. It announced one of its ten satellite ground stations would be based in remote Moonyoonooka, WA , and was being cited as a driver for a telemedicine trial in rural north-west NSW.
The company began constructing the NBN in 10 new locations, saw ISP Annitel connect its first NBN customer in rural Armidale and, in the wake of the Consumer Entertainment Show (CES) during January, found a new killer app as pundits talked up its potential to carry Ultra HD 4K television signals.
NBN made some progress on the siting of towers for its fixed wireless component, talking with VHA about facilities-sharing agreements and scoring a planning victory for a wireless tower in the Huon Valley. NBN Co announced ten South Australian locations where it will pursue development applications for new towers, but was petitioned to move a proposed tower in rural Victoria's Hindmarsh Shire Council and suffered a surprising attack from a Victorian woman who claims the towers are life-threatening and has been fighting to stop the installation of a fixed wireless tower in her town so she won't have to wear protective headgear.
National newspaper The Australian stirred controversy when it ran a front-page story proclaiming that China would in the next three years build a fibre NBN to reach a billion people, in 150 million households, at a third of the cost of the network being built by Australia's Labor government. The report engendered backlash from numerous commentators who argued it was outdated and inaccurate, while Malcolm Turnbull's own arguments for an FttN NBN were also attacked by some. Later news found China mandating the installation of fibre connections to new homes from April 1.
The ACCC published a discussion paper about the potential use of a 'pull through' technique for getting NBN fibre through existing lead-ins to homes; such a change would force Telstra to revisit its notifications to ISPs. Also in the field, Telstra was dealing with asbestos contamination issues during NBN pit preparation, also announcing a $420m subcontracting deal with Service Stream to remediate the company's pit and pipe infrastructure. And NBN Co was accused by fibre provider OptiComm of trespass after NBN Co contractors allegedly trespassed on underground fibre ducts in NSW's Oran Park Town housing estate.
Speaking of trespass, Telstra asked NBN Co to revisit intellectual-property rules related to the process of vetting and assimilating suggestions from ISPs. Interestingly, Telstra also admitted the impending NBN has created a "burning platform" pushing it to accelerate transformational change. Ditto NBN retail service providers and other interested parties, who have been moving to adjust to the new NBN world. iPrimus, for one, connected its first fixed-wireless NBN customer and released pricing for fixed-wireless service plans ranging from 40GB to 1TB of data. Local authorities are getting on board, with two WA cities winning over $500,000 in funding to encourage NBN takeup amongst local SMBs. Other SMBs are already realising the benefits while others are wondering how the NBN can be leveraged to make Tasmania a more desirable place to live and do business.
Businesses in that state aren't yet ready to capitalise on the NBN's opportunities, former premier David Bartlett has argued, but others believe it will be a lightning rod for investment in data-centre facilities and, in areas such as Toowoomba, will be a game changer for businesses. Along similar lines, the government tipped $420,000 to Tamworth Regional Council to support the development of an NBN training hub - similar to the one that was launched in Adelaide in mid-January.
Yet despite its progress, iiNet executive Greg Bader claims the NBN is still 12 months away from its 'tipping point', which if he is correct will fall months after the September 14 election called by Julia Gillard. Indeed, that surprise announcement only added fuel to the fire as the year kicked in and politicians began setting the election-year political agenda around the project. Whether or not the NBN was drawn up as a "media stunt" as some suggest, independent MP Rob Oakeshott was pressing the Coalition to bring its NBN policy closer to that of the existing government and claiming the party's NBN policy could ultimately swing his vote.
Extra reading
FTTH v FTTN: US market watchers disagree (iTWire)
NBN Co under the Coalition (Technology Spectator)
On location: Rolling out the NBN (iTnews)
Ready for a NBN emergency? (Technology Spectator)
What's great about the NBN (ZDNet)
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