SteveJ on Broadband: pre-election NBN posts: NBN: Turnbull, it's time to "put up or shut up" with your numbers.

Friday 30 August 2013

NBN: Turnbull, it's time to "put up or shut up" with your numbers.

Turnbull and the Coalition brag about their NBN plans being the most detailed ever presented by an Opposition. It's an unverifiable statement.

What's true is that they are consciously and deliberately withholding critical financial details of the business, critically affecting the public funding from the budget.

If "NBN Lite" is really a "Core Promise" and they intend to complete it fully, make it commercially viable and return a profit, then Turnbull and the Coalition should have no trouble or hesitation in making their modelling fully public. There can be NO "commercial-in-confidence" data there.

Especially in light of Abbott's very public commitment to "No surprises, no excuses" and "a referendum on trust".

Turnbull and team had to create a full financial model from 2012-2040, presumably in a spreadsheet, to create their documents. They had to recreate everything in the NBN Co Corporate Plan, especially Chapter 9 on Financing.

While there are assumptions and other data they should not be held to account for, there is NO valid reason why they haven't presented exactly the same data, in close to the same format, as is in the NBN Co's Corporate Plan.

So, Mr Turnbull, where's your financial and funding forecasts? Or are you hiding them for good cause?

These are the minimum charts and tables Turnbull should've prepared from his full financial forecast spreadsheet(s). Taken from NBN Co 2012 Corporate Plan, Chapter 9.

Funding, especially Government Equity required, is essential to calculate on-Budget payments of interest. It also implies pay-back period. ROI is listed in one of the tables.