Oakeshott to chair Parliamentary committee on NBN

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott will chair a new Parliamentary joint-committee that has been formed to oversee the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

The task force comes as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has confirmed the number of points-of-interconnect will remain at 121, higher than the initial proposal of 14, but still lower than some telcos, specifically Telstra, would have liked.

The announcement of the committee comes after Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said earlier this week that a new regulatory body should be set up to oversee the construction of the network.

Coalition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull told Parliament that while he would have favoured his own proposal for a public works committee, he admitted it was “better than nothing”.

“It is not at all clear what resources this committee has available to it. It would benefit greatly from some expert advice,” he said.

Ludlam said he would be interested in joining the committee, and told AAP that he has a number of questions about the management and financial details of the network.

Ovum research director says David Kennedy there are some concerns within the industry that could be the subject of some inquiry hearings.

“There are issues surrounding competition. I think there is a genuine concern about the NBN and mission creep… having the NBN go beyond its scope. And there’s nothing in the enabling legislation that actually prevents the NBN expanding into new markets.”

Both the NBN Company bill and the NBN access arrangements bill have passed the House of Representatives and will move to the Senate. But Kennedy says there are some legitimate issues that must be dealt with before these bills are passed.

“The risk is that the NBN integrates into higher level retail services, and then become vertically integrated. Of course, that hasn’t happened yet, and this is simply a worst case scenario, but you can see why there might be concerns from this within industry.”

The committee is expected to question NBN Co. chief executive Mike Quigley and other private sector companies.

The development also comes as a Greens amendment designed to make the National Broadband Network Company liable to freedom of information laws passed the House of Representatives yesterday.

Ludlam said in a statement the passing of the amendment was a “big win” for transparency in the network’s construction.

“High-speed broadband is crucial to Australia’s future and it is essential that its development is subject to high levels of accountability. The amendments will mean NBN Co. is subject to FOI Act in the same manner as government business enterprises such as Australia Post, Medibank and the CSIRO.”

However, while the Coalition has supported more transparency over the NBN, Turnbull said last night the new amendment means the NBN will actually be exempt from some FOI laws.

“We have frankly the farce of the Greens who… have been gulled or conned by the government into a set of amendments which will make the NBN in practical purposes completely immune from disclosure of any documents under the Act,” he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the ACCC has released an amended list of 121 points of interconnect, which dictate where a retail provider can plug in to the NBN.

While some telco experts have said the number should be sufficient, Telstra has said the number is too few to ensure all customers will be given sufficient coverage.