On 18 March 2010, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, introduced the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Fibre Deployment) Bill 2010 (Cth). The Bill requires the rollout of fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure (FTTP) in new real estate developments.

The aim of the Bill is to ensure that new housing developments are built so that they are NBN ready.

What regime is established?

The Bill, if enacted, will:

  • amend the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) to enable the Minister to specify the types of real estate development projects in which any:
    • lines installed must be optical fibre
    • any conduits, pits and ducts constructed must be constructed on a "fibre-ready basis".
  • enable the Minister to create codes and standards to regulate technical and service standards for FTTP
  • amend the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), to enable regulations to be made which will establish a regime which facilitates third party access to fibre-ready facilities for the purpose of installing optical fibre.

Application

The provisions are intended to apply to all types of new developments, including greenfield estates, urban infill and urban renewal projects, with the Minister having power to regulate the types of developments to which the requirements will apply. They will apply whether the relevant development is intended to establish building lots, building units or both, for either sale or lease.

The provisions only apply to:

  • lines that are for use, or intended to be used, to supply a carriage service to the public (ie they will not apply to private networks)
  • lines wholly or primarily used to supply one or more carriage services to end users or prospective end users (eg they will not apply to a line connecting to a mobile phone tower).

Cost

The Government has estimated the cost of the requirements imposed by the Bill for the FTTP rollout to be approximately $519.75 million per annum, if half of all new developments are provided with FTTP and the other half are provided with fibre-ready infrastructure. This estimate is based on the construction of around 189,000 new premises each year.

The current practice, set to continue if the Bill is enacted, is for developers to bear the initial cost of installing FTTP and fibre-ready infrastructure, but to ultimately recover the cost from purchasers.

Progress

The Bill is currently before the House of Representatives, with the Government intending to refer it to the Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee immediately for debate in the Budget sittings.

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