I never thought I’d say this – but I agree with Kenneth Davidson on the NBN

I’ve worked on public policy in the telecommunications sector for a long time, starting in the mid-nineties when I first joined the staff of then Communications Minister Richard Alston, and spending ten years in the private sector, principally at Optus, from 2000.

Over that length of time you get pretty used to the standard positions of key commentators and industry experts.

During the nineties, for example, when the Coalition’s focus was on the privatisation of Telstra, we were roundly, regularly and relentlessly attacked by left-of-centre commentators and union advocates.

So more than a decade later, it is quite instructive to see where people line up on the question of Stephen Conroy’s national broadband network – being built at a cost of up to $50 billion of taxpayers’ money.

Of course, plenty of people have ‘drunk the cool-aid’ on the NBN.   My good friend Paul Budde is one. 

But I have found it very interesting to see the position of some of those who were on a different side of the telecommunications policy debate to me in the nineties. 

One such person is Kevin Morgan, who has been a strong, consistent and well-informed critic of Conroy’s NBN.

Computerworld magazine summarised Morgan’s position as follows in August 2010:

THE $43 billion national broadband network (NBN) is a “purely political cover up” of the failure of the original FTTN proposal and a repeat of decades-old, failed nation-building technology Labor policy, according to independent telco consultant and long-time trade unionist, Kevin Morgan. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/357748/nbn_pie_sky_morgan/

Kevin and I did not agree about privatising Telstra – but we certainly agree about the NBN!

But I was truly amazed today to see this comment from senior columnist at The Age, Kenneth Davidson, in his column today about the flood levy: 

The government should also consider postponing further construction of the NBN until it has been subject to cost benefit analysis - especially as mobile telephony withstood cyclone Yasi far better than electricity poles, which are the cheapest option for carrying comparatively fragile NBN fibre cables to homes in rural and regional areas.

Developments in the US suggest that mobile technologies are the future for broadband, not fixed lines. It seems that NBN Co could be Australia's biggest and most expensive white elephant of all time.   http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gripes-about-a-flood-levy-are-illinformed-20110213-1arz6.html

The Age - as all fans of Gerard Henderson would know - is more accurately described as “The Guardian-on-the-Yarra.”  It is the last home of the socialist left true believers – none truer than Kenneth.   He has written on telecommunications policy for many years – and was a sustained and determined critic of the Howard Government’s telecommunications policies.  In all the years I have been reading his column, I don’t think I have ever previously found myself in agreement with his position.

But when it comes to the NBN – and these are words I could never, ever have imagined myself uttering – I agree with Kenneth Davidson.