6 June 2016
E&EO.
JULIAN LEESER:
Great to be here with the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield who has an announcement.
MITCH FIFIELD:
I’ll start with a little bit of history. The mobile network has developed organically, commercially. Whereas the fixed line network has been developed by government. By the PMG, Telecom, and then Telstra. The mobile network has just expanded as telecommunications companies themselves feel they can build and get a return. As a result, while the mobile network covers about 98% of the population, it only covers about 30% of the landmass. Which means there is a role for government to provide incentives for the telcos to provide the mobile base stations in circumstances where they wouldn’t do so ordinarily.
Not wanting to be partisan, but it’s just a statement of fact, that our predecessors didn’t spend a dollar on mobile blackspots in the six years they were in office. So it’s something that Malcolm, when he was Shadow for Communications, in particular, recognised there was a need for. So when we came into office, we set up the Mobile Blackspot Program. $100 million, which leveraged additional contributions from state government and also telcos, so that $100 million was turned into $385 million. The first round is securing 499 base stations nationwide, which covers about half of the 6,000 community nominated blackspots. Now we knew we had to do more, so we put an extra $60 million for round two. Which is currently being assessed. But we knew we had to do more again, so Malcolm announced a couple of weeks ago an additional $60 million for mobile blackspots. So I’m really pleased to be able to announce that Brooklyn and Crosslands will have mobile base stations so we can address the blackspots in this area. So that’s good news. We’ll have money on the table to provide incentives to telcos to establish two new base stations in this area. And it’s important for a number of reasons as you know. For business. For tourism. Also for residents to stay in touch. But also at times of natural disaster and for emergency services as well. So the good news is that through the ceaselessness of Julian, we’ll have those two base stations.
RESIDENT:
That’s terrific. Now if you could just fix the TV and Radio in this area we’ll be set.
MITCH FIFIELD:
I’m sure Julian will be in touch with me about those as well.
JOURNALIST:
Where will the base stations be?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well I can’t tell you the precise siting because the process is: we put money on the table; we then invite the telcos to come forward with propositions. The successful telco, and there are a number of telcos who could well make bids for the project, they then have to go and secure planning approval.
JOURNALIST:
But is there a footprint, though… you say Brooklyn will get base stations, you don’t know where exactly, is it going to be in the suburb boundary, in the electorate or…
MITCH FIFIELD:
It’ll be up to the telcos to identify, technically, the sites that will provide the coverage. And then the telcos are required to get the relevant planning approvals. So we will cover the Brooklyn, Dangar Island area, so there’ll be one base station that will do that. And another base station that will cover the Crosslands.
RESIDENT:
So do you know what areas these will cover? So the Crosslands one for example, I work as a national parks volunteer at Muogamarra Nature reserve that has a blackspot down at Peak’s Crater. It’s really important that we have coverage because during the open season in August and September, we get a lot of visitors though there. And it’d be great to have mobile phone coverage all the way down to the crater. At the moment we don’t have that, so if something happens down there, someone has to go racing up six kilometres to get help. So any way that we could know that that’s going to cover that area in there?
MITCH FIFIELD:
They endeavour to have maximum coverage with each base station, and so the telcos need to do the technical work to look at what the maximum footprint will be. That’ll feed into where it’s actually sited. Also it needs the local council’s approval, so those things need to come together.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think you could influence the coverage area, because that issue is sort of known to a small group. Whether we can influence that in any way at all?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well once a telco makes a bid, and they’re successful, then those are the sorts of discussions.
JOURNALIST:
So what’s the timeline for these?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well it’ll be determined by essentially how long the planning process takes, because local government has got to give approval for the sites. Also if there’s someone who owns the site, the telco needs to negotiate what the access arrangements will be. So I can’t give you a time frame until there’s a telco that’s been successful with its bid, and they do the planning, and then they start the conversations with the relevant landholders and the planning regulators. But typically, within 18 months to two years at the outside. But again, it just depends how quickly the planning process can take place.
JOURNALIST:
How much money did you put on the table for these two base stations?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well the total package in round three for nationwide is $60 million, and typically, for an individual base station, it’s a range of between $800,000 to $1 million per base station.
JOURNALIST:
Given this area’s topography and bush and all the rest of it, if you don’t know specifically, you haven’t specifically said, this is what’s out to tender, as an amount, or are you just looking for tenders the other way, like a reverse auction.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Yeah, it’s essentially a reverse auction. So the telcos put in a bid as to how much money that they think they would need from the fund in order to make it viable for them to put that forward.
JOURNALIST:
So with the last round there was 499, 429 went to Telstra, 70 went to Vodafone, and 0 went to anybody else. Was that a function of any particular way of the program working?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Only Telstra and Vodafone put bids in, and each telco didn’t necessarily nominate for the full range of base stations. So it’s up to the individual telcos which sites they place bids for.
JOURNALIST:
Because they can all use the same base stations if they wanted to attach their receivers right?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well that’s part of the structure of the process is that someone who is successful in getting the bid for a particular base station needs to consult with other telcos to provide access for them to put their equipment there as well.
JOURNALIST:
Has there been a case, say with anyone like Virgin or Optus, we don’t have a base station here, I’m an Optus customer, is there a situation where as an Optus customer, I’m not going to get access to local coverage, because for whatever reason they haven’t put a receiver in there?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well if telco X is successful, then telco X needs to consult and be open to telco Y or Z actually putting their equipment on there. Telco Y or Z may choose not to do so. And if they do, well then they don’t do that. But, there is, for emergency services, there’s roaming. So if you have a mobile phone, regardless of who your carrier is, and regardless of whose base station is nearby, you can access the mobile network.
RESIDENT:
That’s what Brooklyn’s on at the moment, SOS only. Will the other telco Y and Z be charged to use the facilities that are being built by telco X?
MITCH FIFIELD:
There’d be an appropriate commercial arrangement between the two organisations.
JULIAN LEESER:
Mitch, can I add a comment? I was just going to say firstly, it’s wonderful to have you here in the Berowra electorate, and wonderful to have you in Kangaroo Point and in Brooklyn, and it’s particularly great to have you as the Communications Minister. Having grown up in this area you know some of the challenges we face. After the Pennant Hills Road, the number two issue in the electorate is mobile blackspots. I want to acknowledge the work of Phillip Ruddock in lobbying for the tower to be built at Sackville North, which will effect a lot of the rural areas, help improve mobile blackspots there. I heard about mobile blackspot in Brooklyn when I was here at the railway station the other morning. I’ve been hearing about it when I’ve been shopping at the Brooklyn Arms, and getting coffee here as well over a number of years. I know what an issue it is here. So it’s particularly good to be here with you, taking actions to fix mobile blackspots here in Brooklyn and also and the Crosslands. There was an incident not so long ago where there was a campsite at Crosslands, and people had to run up the hill to get coverage when there was an incident. And this will be great, Crosslands is used so much for camping too, so thank you for the commitment you’ve made to our electorate today.
RESIDENT:
Just before you go, I know this isn’t on the agenda, but as a business owner that pays $9,500 a month to Telstra to get data, principally, we pay for a VPN, when are we likely to see the NBN? Please don’t say not in your lifetime.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well the good news is that because of the approach that we’re taking to the NBN, we’re essentially technology agnostic, we’ve said to the NBN use the technology that can see the nbn rolled out the fastest and at the lowest cost. Some places it’s fixed wireless, some places it’s fibre to the node, in parts we’re using the HFC pay TV cable network, which is infrastructure that’s already there. By taking that approach, the NBN will be completed nationwide by 2020. It’ll be in most places by the end of 2018. And that is actually six to eight years sooner than would’ve been the case under the approach of our predecessors, and at $30b less cost. So everywhere nationwide will have it by 2020, most places will have it by the end of 2018.
JOURNALIST:
Is Brooklyn in most places? Just specifically on that idea, the end of 2018, so Brooklyn and the Hornsby area is scheduled at the moment to be on HFC. By started to build start of September 2018. So they are sort of not most places, they’re at the other end of most places.
MITCH FIFIELD:
So three quarters of the nation will either be able to access services or construction will have commenced by September 2018.
JOURNALIST:
So the comments that we’ve received, so Paul Fletcher, you guys know him quite well he said that because this area has extensive cable and HFC networks rolled out by Telstra and Optus in the 1990s for pay TV it’s relatively simple to install the NBN in this area. But despite that, it’s going to be another two years before you even start rolling it out. Is there a reason why, if it’s so simple, and the network already exists, why is there a two year delay between this area where is relatively simple apparently.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well it’s not a delay because the HFC network wasn’t going to be used under Labor’s plan. Labor actually paid Telstra and Optus billions of dollars to shut that down so that it wouldn’t be available. So there’s not a delay. One of the reasons why the NBN will be rolled out six to eight years sooner than otherwise would have been the case is because we’re accessing and we’re taking advantage of the existing HFC network. So it’s not a delay. It’s actually happening sooner that would’ve been the case otherwise.
JOURNALIST:
So you’re definitely using HFC, because there’s been a bit of back and forth about HFC networks not being up to scratch and actually putting in Fibre to the Node instead, because there are networks that are going to be more expensive to repair anyway. Can you say that it’s going to be HFC in this area?
MITCH FIFIELD:
There’ll be a mix of HFC and fibre to the node and I imagine fixed wireless in parts as well.
JOURNALIST:
What sort of speeds are you expecting to get? The promise it 25 Mbps, 50 by 2020. If these guys are rolled out in 2018, likely start in 2019 maybe, that’s 25 megabits, is that the goal then?
MITCH FIFIELD:
The fixed line network is up to 100 megabits per second, so they’re very, very fast speeds.
JOURNALIST:
So for Hornsby though, you’re expecting that range, there’s not [inaudible].
MITCH FIFIELD:
But we’ll shoot you through the more detailed breakdown, area by area, of the mode that would be used to deploy.
RESIDENT:
And can I say, any speed faster as I say, we pay nine and a half thousand a month and we get four up, and four down which is a heap faster than anyone else around here, but we’re paying dearly for it, and we’d like it to be a lot faster, and a lot more reliable than even that. So you know, as I say that I’m going to be here in my working lifetime.
FIFIELD:
It will be.
RESIDENT:
I want to turn it on and get a speeding ticket. Is there any opportunity for accommodation within the system to take advantage of advances in technology as they occur, for the nbn or is it locked in at what’s available now? It may be that in two years’ time something else comes up and be better than what’s there now.
FIFIELD:
Absolutely. The mandate that we’ve given to NBN is to be technology agnostic and to be flexible. So if there are better ways of delivering, if there are ways of speeding up the process, if there are ways of rolling it out at lowest cost, then NBN’s mandate is to look at that and if it makes sense, to do it.
RESIDENT:
Thank you for answering my questions, sorry to throw that in there, but I just want you to appreciate that mobile phones are fantastic and we really need them to survive, and we’re really grateful for your announcement today, but the next thing we’re all on our knees for is NBN.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Absolutely, the thing is, this is basically the biggest infrastructure project in the history of the Federation. And we’re connecting every single premises. It can only happen in a phased way, it can’t be rolled out everywhere simultaneously. Our aim is to roll it out as quick as we possibly can. And as I say, everywhere by 2020, and six to eight years sooner than would’ve been the case under the plan of other guys.
[ends]