Very witty. Like it @postulative. 
That was after the part privatisation of Telstra under one brand of government and completion by the other.
Well the second point has come to pass, for now anyway. $52B in equity and government loans give or take plus a further liability in privately sourced funding of $6.1B.
True, if itâs sold to private ownership the tax payer gets some back? But many who are also NBN users get to pay all over again for the privilege of using what was once property of the tax payer and community as a whole.
The prior privatisation of our major airport infrastructure demonstrates just how this might play out. The funding brawl and agreement to the second runway at BrisVegas airport is a further example of how future NBN capital needs might lead to greater pain. IE Given the choice of the investors stumping up the cash to increase the value of their investment and the users being asked to pay higher costs in advance for something they might not be able to use, or need. Shonky and a rort if that is the way it goes.
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Merry Christmas everyone.
Look at what Santa has delivered early for Christmas.
The following report is also available on line to download and read.
Perhaps save it for after the family celebrations. Likely when you need an excuse for feeling a little flat or left out.
Comment:
The Spin Doctors most common diagnosis is that up to 50Mbps broadband is accessible. Well, for 90% of customers. Oh, and if you are on fixed line.
The prognosis for those not on fixed line or on slow copper (approx 20% of all services). You are unlikely to catch 50Mbps broadband. Inoculation is still recommended with slow copper, fixed wireless and satellite the three competing vaccines. The reliability of each treatment is uncertain due to a lack of field testing. Science remains divided on whether the disease of slow NBN is caused by a virus, bacteria, both, or something else. Transmission is apparently due to a handful of super spreaders. Some suggest these are readily identifiable by an unusual shade of blue tie and or flagged motif pin.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
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A sign that the NBN is making a profit, or�
The NBN Co is still owned by the Australian Govt and accountable to the two shareholder ministers.? Apparently not as it was up to the board to decide, according to the two Ministers.
It makes some other recent discussions around cheap watches seem, well, kind of petty.
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Well thatâs the tall poppy syndrome for you. The reasoning about the incident doesnât have to be rational or particularly relevant just as long as the punter in the street feels uncomfortable in some way it will sell papers, bait clicks and bend careers.
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In this instance we are all free to decide. Although the ABC is not going to miss an opportunity to hit a headline, mostly.
The recent situation with Australia Post, the fallout over $20k all up of watches, and the extreme price of âthe opticâ has been discussed separately. If there was a tall poppy in that instance I missed it. To me that seemed more about political expediency and positioning.
For the NBN Co, the project is well over budget, late and for many Australianâs not delivering a satisfactory outcome. Related elsewhere customers who were with Telstra or Optus on cable able to access 100Mbps nominal services, now have to move to the NBN and pay more for a slower and lesser service.
Perhaps all those bonuses were reasonably due. Perhaps there were some exemplary outcomes, or critical targets set and achieved. It would aid understanding (transparency) to know just what those targets were, how they related to what the NBN achieved, and why they were not going to be achieved otherwise.
Some bonuses are simply expedient. Others are a genuine reward, or incentive. As the workings of the NBN Co is hidden behind itâs corporate identity and CIC, itâs difficult to really known.
Itâs a fair call. Should the two shareholder ministers be cut down instead?
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Australian governments at all levels and their owned corporations pay bonuses to their staff that meet their employment performance KPIs. Is this rightâŠI donât know but there is an expectation that employees should be entitled to such bonuses as some of the private sector also provides bonuses to its employees. Now with the public sector being paid more than the private sector equivalent, the argument that they need to pay the bonuses to retain good staff doesnât stack up. Maybe paying bonuses in the public sector is a debate which needs to be had.
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The NBNs value to the taxpayer is likely to diminish over time from alternative technologies and networksâŠ
I wonder if the government will legislate special anticompetitive NBN laws to protect the taxpayers interests, even if the consumer benefits and choice are compromised by such laws.
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I thought it already had. Of course, a network doesnât need to be government owned to be able to buy out government competition - a number of US states have passed laws prohibiting cities from rolling out fibre even though no telecoms company is providing decent networks to those cities.
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TPG is the example in the news item.
Are competitors to the NBN going to compete where the margins are highest or least?
Assuming itâs a simple business decision TPG will go where the NBN has the greatest margin. Likely in the areas with the highest customer density EG inner city and satellite centres, high rise, commercial offices. That would leave the NBN needing to offer cheaper services to customers in those areas to compete, and putting pressure on the NBNâs margins.
Where would that leave the NBN? Likely with a greater proportion of those in the more expensive to service outer regions and rural/regional centres. Already under serving those customers, and with supposedly low or no margin, would the NBN Co need to increase charges just to stay in business? IE to those customers where there is no practical alternative.
Itâs going to be a hard sell.
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Wait. Youâre not saying that TPG will tread the same ground as Optus/Telstra walked in the 1990s and just duplicate infrastructure in already well-served areas?
/s
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TPG already do, no sarcasm needed to say that 
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Seems to be normal practice at work here. Bonuses?
When I worked for one of the big banks, 10% of my annual remuneration was subject to âshort term incentivesâ.
If I had a good performance year, and received a good appraisal, then I would get 100% of my âat riskâ STI amount. That could be modified however. If the bank had a shocker compared to its competitors, then the STI would be factored down and I would maybe only get 70%. If the bank did really well, then it could be factored up, and I may get more than the 100%.
This is not âbonusesâ. This is performance based pay.
Now, could one consider that the NBN really performed well as a Telco? Depends on what the company performance targets were.
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Secret Menâs/Ministerâs business?
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The NBN board has eight members. Four are women.
That is hardly secret mens business. Tsk tsk.
Absolutely correct.
It also has two only share holder Ministers, to whom the Board is accountable. Itâs not for the board to speak up. Itâs very simple, really.
Would the two share holder Ministers through monitoring of the NBN be aware of the bonus payments? Or would they consider otherwise, without an acceptable justification? What would a major shareholder consider prudent, especially as one who is holding the business on behalf of all of us?
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Again, what âbonusâ payments were paid that would not be part of normal renumeration practices?
Shareholders typically finance a business. They do not run it. Nor are they liable or accountable to authorities for the operation of the business. That is what a board of directors is for.
A circular discussion, Iâm content to leave as is, with two simple comments.
As we donât know what the bonuses were paid for itâs impossible to know if they were reasonably part of what would be considered normal renumeration practices.
The NBN Co is being financed by the Commonwealth of Australia. Thatâs you and I. If itâs not accountable publicly, how are we to judge if the money is being spent wisely?
P.S.
To any of those members of the community reading this, and who may be in receipt of said bonuses. Respectfully itâs not necessary to know by individual who got what. Knowing the specific targets or goals set, how they were measured (kpiâs) what was delivered by comparison and how these related to the strategic plan should not be too hard to share?
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For those who want to know more about NBN Coâs remuneration policies, start at page 86. On page 89 you will learn that NBN Co business was not really affected by COVID-19 and so not considered in deciding bonuses.
I wonder if the average NBN Co employee got a wage freeze, as did Commonwealth Public Servants whose performance was generally not affected by COVID-19?
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Thatâs probably why the bosses and management got the bonuses, they kept the workers underfootâŠsounds cynical doesnât itâŠmaybe I am in certain areas.
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