The future of Australia's national broadband network (NBN) has been secured, with the Australian Labor Party winning the election 17 days after polls closed.
Put on hold as Australia's political leaders struggled to woo independents elected by Australian votes to support their party, Australia's next-generation broadband plan will now go ahead as planned, with the hopes of making Australia's broadband offerings one of the fastest in the world.
Australia's NBN project, which will cost the government around $43 billion over the course of eight years, will bring fibre-optic connections to almost 93% of Australian homes with speeds of up to 1Gbps for most premises. The remaining 7% of homes will receive a mix of next-generation wireless and satellite services, with both eventually providing speeds of up to 12Mbps.
The project was thrown into chaos when no clear party was elected by Australian voters 17 days ago, with the company's future put in doubt as the coalition promised to dump what it called a "white elephant" and expensive waste of taxpayers money, offering their own cheaper broadband plans.
But today the NBN corporation welcomed the announcement surrounding Australia's political future, saying the confirmation Julia Gillard's Labor government will remain in power for the next three or so years provides "clarity", with the company quickly working to put into action "deferred processes".
"NBN Co’s management and its 300 employees welcome the clarity that today’s announcements provides in relation to the future of the NBN," the company said in a statement after today's announcement.
"We will now work to restore deferred processes, including the recruitment of staff."
The company will now meet with shareholder ministers to plan out "future policy directions".
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