A consortium composed of consulting firms McKinsey and KPMG has been appointed as the lead advisor for the government's $43 billion National Broadband Network project.
The Federal Government today revealed it had organised what it described as a "major forum" on the future of Australia's digital economy in the wake of the construction of the National Broadband Network.
Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy today said trench digging to lay fibre cables for the National Broadband Network in Tasmania would begin in October.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to announce the winner of the government's $4.7 billion National Broadband Network contract early this morning at 8:15AM at a Canberra press conference with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Long-time Alcatel-Lucent veteran Mike Quigley has been appointed executive chairman of the National Broadband Network Company and is expected to eventually be its chief executive officer and managing director.
Rejecting Telstra's proposal, after all, is the only conclusion Conroy can reach: as someone whose entire philosophy is built around transparency and process, he simply cannot keep Telstra as part of the NBN bidding process anymore.
Like many, I expected Telstra's dismissal was inevitable, given that it had openly flouted the NBN's guidelines and attempted to bend the process to its own wishes. But who would have expected it so soon?
Fair is not what the National Broadband Network tender is about; it's bloodsport, and a fight for survival, and a challenge of the wills, and all the other sorts of superlatives you might expect from an Olympics announcer.
For no particular reason that I can discern, a 1979 Kenny Rogers song popped into my head as I was considering the ever more complex morass that is the national broadband network tender which Senator Stephen Conroy defended in his CeBIT keynote speech.
Hillary Clinton's nine lives are not yet depleted and, despite allegations that her stubborn refusal to concede defeat earlier has fragmented her party, she fought her battle to the very end. By placing bets several ways, that battle may just turn into gold for her down the track. Has Optus taken a leaf out of Hillary's book?
The Federal Government's committal to spend up to $43bn of taxpayer funds without rigorous and detailed analysis and economic modelling of the National Broadband Network is simply extraordinary.
What does the everyday person on the street think of the Federal Government's plans to build a $43 billion National Broadband Network?
A simple way forward for the National Broadband Network and for Telstra has now emerged.
The Rudd Government's decision to build its own broadband network significantly cranks up the threat to Telstra's dominance in the telecommunications sector.
This afternoon Communications Minister Stephen Conroy described his opposite, Senator Nick Minchin, as a Luddite as he took questions from reporters on the Opposition's attempt to block the government's wide-ranging telecommunications industry reform legislation, which includes provisions to force the break-up of Telstra.
Australians tell us what they think of the $43 billion National Broadband Network.
Shadow Communications Minister talks about key issues in his portfolio: the National Broadband Network, the ISP filter and more.
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