Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash acknowledged in 2005 that copper was fast becoming “redundant” in the delivery of internet services and recommended the Howard government investigate the cost of fibre to the home.

A paper, Future-Proofing Telecommunications in Non-Metropolitan Australia, was written by the Nationals leader and deputy leader when they were senators-elect with academic Troy Whitford for the National Party thinktank, the Page Research Centre.



It was designed to address rural concerns about the sale of the last chunk of Telstra under the Howard government.



The paper investigated options to “provide businesses and families in regional Australia with the same telecommunications capabilities as their counterparts in the suburbs of our major cities”.



“Without competition, consumers are forced to use technologies or infrastructure which is fast becoming outdated,” the authors wrote.



“The copper line network is a case in point. Most are in agreement that copper line is becoming redundant, but few companies are now actively introducing new alternatives.”

Copper line is becoming redundant, but few companies are now actively introducing new alternatives.

Nash said it even more forcefully in her first speech in the parliament.

“The Copper Age was 5,300 years ago, and that is where copper belongs,” she said in 2005. “We need to embrace optic fibre, wireless and satellite so that we have the right mix of infrastructure to take us into the future.”

But on Friday, Nash told Guardian Australia she was never in favour of picking winners for the delivery of internet services.

“My view always has been with communication that picking a winner on technology for rural and regional areas is not the way to go,” said Nash.

“I think we have the NBN policy pretty right in the platforms of delivery. In my experience people want to get reasonable levels of bandwidth to get on the iPad or laptop or whatever and don’t really care how it’s delivered.”

At the time, Nash, Joyce and Whitford underlined that “parity of service” between the city and the country was essential to encourage business to decentralise and promote regional development.

“Fibre optic cables to non-metropolitan areas would assist in the social and economic development of those communities and provide greater flexibility in the workplace or even home based work,” the authors wrote.

Under Option A, the Page Research Centre proposed a “fibre to the home” model where the government contracted a supplier to “lay fibre optic cable to a majority of consumers in non-metropolitan Australia, exempting approximately 6000 remote users where satellite coverage is provided”.

“The fibre optic cable would replace the existing Customer Access Network, currently made up of what is predominately copper line; also known as ‘the last mile’ (from the exchange to the user) ...

“The Page Research Centre recommends that government commission a feasibility study into the cost of laying fibre optic cable to a majority of consumers in non-metropolitan Australia.”



The paper also canvassed three other options for providing internet services in the bush: a combined fibre/wireless rollout, a community model delivered through local governments and a model where a private company provided fibre optic between in the “last mile” between the exchange and the consumer.



“The Centre has concluded it may be impractical to have a single technology servicing all non-metropolitan areas and particular regions may require different technologies,” the authors wrote.

“For example, it may be more efficient to have optic fibre to some places yet more appropriate to use wireless or satellite in others.”

When Labor announced the National Broadband Network in 2007, it planned fibre to the premises (FTTP) for 93% of premises with 7% fixed wireless/satellite for rural and remote areas.

The Coalition changed the plan under then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull to include a mix of technologies, with the majority (38%) of premises receiving fibre to the node (FTTN) under the 2016 corporate plan. That technology is reliant on the copper connections between the node and the home.

According to the NBNCo corporate plan, FTTP connections will now make up only 20% of connections, with HFC/pay TV cable accounting for 34%. Of the remaining rural and remote areas, 5% will receive fixed wireless connections and 3% will receive satellite.

This means rural and regional Australians will receive a mix of fixed line, fixed wireless and satellite technologies under the Coalition plan.