Govt to introduce legislation for broadband tax

[person]

Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019

From the EM:

A designated broadband service is a carriage service provided over a fixed-line that is technically capable of providing download transmission speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) or more.

That’s me off the hook then. LOL

(It is unclear how this is really measured or whether it will be revised if future improvements to technology rendered previously untaxed lines taxed.)

It is intended that the charge would apply to all premises serviced by fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), fibre-to-the-basement (FTTB), fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) and hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC).

[grahroll]

The RBS Tax has been raised in several posts on this site:

An NBN Wiki

HOW THE NBN CONNECTIONS ARE COSTED: There are several costs that each RSP must pay to NBN Co for each connection they have to consumers. I have copied the following, and amended as needed, from a previous answer I made in a topic: AVC (Access Virtual Circuit) AVC (Access Virtual Circuit) is the way each subscriber has their traffic identified in the network. Access Seekers (normally your RSP) generally buy 1 AVC per subscriber they have. This is the first part of the NBN Co Wholesale pricing…

Should the NBN be Sold? And if the NBN is sold what Next for the consumer?

The SMH continues it’s speculation around the future ownership of the NBN. This article attempts to link the options to a future Labour led Federal Govt. It might support a Telstra based take over as financially less pain than sale in an open market. Future NBN ownership in this option would depend on how Telstra was restructured. Telstra’s time line for it’s current proposed restructure and the NBN Co’s time line to be all done and profitable are noted as coinciding in 2022. Uninformed thin…

NBN Co floats its own 'Netflix tax'

Perhaps we also need to also acknowledge the other ‘elephant in the room’. The RBS or Regional Broadband Scheme. It might also be about to add a further $7.10 per month per connection to the cost of internet, subject to legislative approval? The great mystery here is whether the $7.10 has already been built into the NBN costings. That was the claim of the Government when the legislation was first raised. It appears to be smoke and mirrors with the politics. The NBN Co’s Financial reports, A…

Telecommunications Customer Service Guarantee

Trying to make head or tail of this. The focus of the article is rural/regional, but the whole nation will be affected. It’s supposed to be an integrated package, but there seem to be an awful lot of bits. USO, USG, RBS, SIP - WTF?

Telecommunications Customer Service Guarantee

The Broadband Tax has been on the books to have it made law for about 2 years. It has been slow progress getting it to be formally passed into law. I guess you already know what the other parts are but in case others don’t: USO is to be made into the USG Simply put the Universal Service Obligations (USO) was the previous obligation to provide an equitable connection service and previously Telstra were the USO carrier. From the ACMA site "The universal service obligation (USO) is the obligat…

[mark_m]

@draughtrider

They only have a long memory for tax …

IT News refers to “super fast” broadband services?

“[The bill] would impose from the first July after passage a monthly charge on carriers in relation to each premises connected to their network that has an active fixed line superfast broadband during the month,” he said.

Has IT News stuffed up?
An assumption is 12Mbps fixed line services, common to many older pensioners who just wanted a phone will not be taxed.
Also the same for our Urban Brisbane HFC service which runs at 12-1Mbps?

I thought it was all NBN fixed line customers.

I’ll leave any discussion of what ‘super fast’ should be or means to others.

[person]

I recommend using the Explanatory Memorandum for the bill (quoted above) rather than a media article.

“superfast” (for what it’s worth) means “>= 25 Mbps”.

It is about capability though, not service. So if you have a technology that is capable of exceeding 25 Mbps but the service is an el cheapo one running at 12 Mbps then you will still be taxed.

So as it stands today, ADSL will not be taxed but the technologies that I quoted above will always be taxed even if used only with an el cheapo service.

[vombatis]

@person

if you have a technology that is capable of exceeding 25 Mbps

The “out” that our internet is not capable of exceeding that speed applies to many us still connected via crappy copper out in our street (and the next street 'cos the node is quite a way away)

[grahroll]

If you are on a 25/5 plan the Tax will be levied even if you only get 15-20 Mbps down. They basically don’t care how far the node is away from you, if you purchase a 12/1 nbn™ plan you will avoid the Tax. Anything else on a nbn™ connection and the tax will be levied.