NBN Take-up Rates only 11%!

A progress report on National Broadband  takeup rates says that  only 11% of customers in Tasmania have taken up the $100 per month NBN fibre connection , preferring to stay with their $20 to $60 current providers.

ONLY about one in 10 of the first Australians to be offered high-speed internet services under the National Broadband Network have taken up the offer.

The federal government yesterday confirmed the take-up rate in the first three Tasmanian towns to receive the NBN was less than 11 per cent, arguing it was evidence the $43 billion program was on track.

However, the Coalition said the take-up rate was "appallingly low" and that revelations that only 262 premises so far had active connections suggested the rollout was "farcical".

The government has not revealed how many of the NBN users are passing up the full 100-megabits-per-second internet speed, on offer at about $100 a month, in favour of slower speeds on cheaper packages costing $30 or $60 a month.

The release of the first figures came as the West Australian Liberal government last night demanded "greater value for money, greater leverage of private sector investment and a more flexible technological approach" to the NBN.

Of course progress cannot be measured against the business plan because there isn't any business plan ! Government plans to have a majority funding of the NBN by private industry are a fairytale as no one in their right mind would invest in a loss-making albatross like this.

Gillard and her cronies are now considering the totalitarian option of forcing people to connect which will encounter stiff opposition from many groups!