NBN 100,000 short

Broadband behemoth says its job is finished despite shortfall

ALMOST 100,000 homes and businesses are still not able to connect to the National Broadband Network (NBN) even though the $51bn project passed its deadline two months ago and overspent by $700m over the past year.

But NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said he considered the infrastructure project “completed” despite the shortfall and celebrated its role in keeping Australians connected during the coronavirus pandemic.

The progress of the NBN was revealed in its latest annual report, in what should have been the final financial year of its rollout. It showed 11.7 million premises were “ready to connect” to the network by the end of June, and 7.3 million households and businesses were actually using it.

That included users who hooked up between March and June when COVID-19 lockdowns began and thousands started working and studying from home.

Mr Rue said the company’s most important achievement was meeting its June deadline. But he admitted “just under 100,000” households and business still were unable to connect to the NBN, and said one in five of these would not receive the technology until at least next year.

According to figures from Telstra, Australians in parts of 164 suburbs and cities are still waiting to be connected to the NBN, including 80 areas that aren’t expected to be hooked up until December 31. Despite delays, the NBN is due to be declared “built and fully operational” by the federal government in December.

The NBN Co’s latest financial report also showed it had spent $700m more on capital expenditure than forecast in its 2020 corporate plan, or $1.45bn more than estimated in its 2019 plan.