Australia - NBN costs will require AUD 27 billion, though business case is not finalised

[computerworld NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley, is becoming clearer on the costs involved in the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), confirming $27 billion as a “precise” peak government injection equity figure. However, the former Alcatel-Lucent chief operations officer told Computerworld Australia that NBN Co’s business case was yet to be finalised or delivered to Government.

Quigley’s new stance, revealed at the Australian Computer Society’s (ACS) Charles Todd Oration event, comes just a week after he told an Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) lunch that government equity would be “south of $30 billion”.

“Our business case requires equity funding by the Government of around $27 billion,” Quigley told the ACS. “This is not the total capital costs, as we expect to raise debt, without Government guarantees, of at least $10 billion.”

NBN sees $27 billion firm equity investment