Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable member says it is amazing; it is. The development underlines the value of the coalition's very business-like commercial approach. We do not treat technology as ideology. Our focus is on the customer, purely on the customer, on the citizen. How do we get that citizen the best, fastest internet service as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible and hence as affordably as possible? So whatever works. The reality is that HFC, which of course is ubiquitous in many parts of the northern hemisphere in particular, is able to offer, with these essentially more efficient uses of spectrum, extraordinarily good services that are thoroughly competitive with fibre-to-the-premises.

The use of existing network infrastructure like HFC will, according to the strategic review, reduce the cost of building the NBN versus the counterfactual of Labor's all fibre-to-the-premises proposal by a staggering $29 billion and save many years. As the experience of building this network has gone on, it is becoming more apparent that while the savings in billions of dollars are incredibly material, the savings in time are equally so. There are great benefits from ubiquitous connectivity but postponing them for years if not for a decade to achieve a perfect solution by Labor is extraordinarily counterproductive and neglectful of the national interest.

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