HAWKESBURY RESIDENTS SPARED SLUG FOR HIGHER NBN PRICES

Hawkesbury residents who receive their NBN service via wireless towers have been spared a $20 a month additional cost, following a backdown by NBNCo.

Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman said less than 24 hours after the NBN had revealed its plans to charge residents with fixed wireless service $240 more per year – it had bowed to pressure and backed down.

“What a difference a day can make,” Ms Templeman said. “This is a welcome win for more than 6,000 residents in the Hawkesbury with fixed wireless NBN.

Ms Templeman, a member of the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee into the NBN, had questioned NBNco about their pricing structure a hearing on the evening of Wednesday 15 August.

“The executives revealed that there would be a $20 a month price difference between the services,” she said.

“I asked NBN if they had any expectation that retail service providers would smooth the pricing so that neighbours in the same community didn’t have different costs,” she said. “Their response was not hopeful.

“But less than 24 hours later, they were forced to back down following significant pressure from Labor” Ms Templeman said.

“In areas like Pitt Town, Oakville and Wilberforce, there is a mish-mash of technologies,” Ms Templeman said.  “These residents would have had to pay $20 a month, or $240 a year more than their neighbours.

“It would have been unconscionable to expect people in outer Sydney and regional areas to be disadvantaged not only by the type of service available to them, but by cost as well” she said.

“For people in the Hawkesbury, it would have been even more galling, knowing their neighbours would have been paying $240 a year le