Australian National Broadband Project Will Cost A$35.9 Billion

Australia’s national broadband network will cost A$35.9 billion ($35.4 billion) and will have 13 million customers by 2021.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s plan to bring high-speed Internet to some of Australia’s remotest corners drew fire ahead of the Aug. 21 general election for its cost. She clung to power by forming a minority government with independent lawmakers from rural regions who welcomed improved services.

The high-speed Internet service includes a non-binding agreement with Melbourne-based Telstra Corp., the nation’s biggest phone company, to shut down its copper wire network and transfer customers to NBN in exchange for A$11 billion in compensation. Telstra will hand over assets to NBN, which will build the nationwide network by 2018. The operator will then join rivals including Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.’s Optus in leasing infrastructure from the government. NBN will lay fiber optics to reach 93 percent of the population, with the rest of the nation served by wireless and satellite coverage. It is Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, a comparable size to the A$42 billion stimulus the government announced in February 2009.