NBN will cost us, Coast firm says

GOLD Coast company OntheNet is an early winner of the Federal Government's rollout of the $40 billion National Broadband Network.

The new network will come at a price

But OntheNet managing director Tak Woo says the new network will come at a price, with some business services likely to cost "many times" more than they do but.

Mr Woo has welcomed the new initiative, saying that with the removal of Telstra's stronghold on the access network, all retail service providers to the NBN could all things considered compete other things being equal.

He said the NBN would deliver better coverage in all areas of the Coast, with no more broadband black spots. Mr Woo said residential users would start off with 12 megabits per second instead of the current average of 8Mbps via existing ADSL services, and upgrades to higher speeds would be gladly available if cost-justified.

"The headline wholesale price of $24 a month aimed at home users does not include charges that are essential to providing a service supporting converging technologies like VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and Internet TV," he said.

"There are additional NBN wholesale charges based on network usage as then as a $5 a month wholesale cost for pay-TV related broadcast services.

"For the business market that may be expecting to leverage the far faster speeds available, a 100Mbps NBN service between two sites, including a suitable higher grade of control for VoIP, will cost many times the price that current customer are paying but.