WHEN the NBN comes to town, the technicians who install the home connections are probably the only physical contact many of us have with the $48 billion project. And like plenty of end users on the burgeoning network, they’re not happy.

A group of technicians who are deployed across the country in regional and rural areas to carry out the home installations for the fixed wireless and satellite components of the rollout say they are occasionally being underpaid and are being incorrectly invoiced, leading to further problems with the state of the rollout.

Some technicians are even walking away from difficult jobs out of fear they won’t be properly compensated for their work, leaving a trail of frustrated customers behind who often wait for a technician who never turns up.

The technicians handling the regional rollout have banded together to form an association and want to sit down with NBN Co. and Ericsson (the company hired by NBN Co. to handle the regional part of the rollout) to discuss their concerns and problems on the ground.

However they say their appeals have gone completely unanswered.

A FRACTURED NETWORK

Under the multi-technology strategy of the NBN, Australian cities and suburban areas are being serviced by a mixture of fibre, copper and old pay TV cables. But those in the regional areas and the bush are serviced by fixed wireless towers and satellite.

To do this, the NBN has contracted Ericsson to handle that part of the rollout. Ericsson has then contracted three so-called “delivery partners” which in turn hire technicians on the ground to do the installations. The three delivery partners used by Ericsson are Hills Connection Solutions, SkyBridge and BSA.

There’s plenty of links in the chain, but those at the bottom are growing increasingly disgruntled.

“There’s been a whole myriad of issues,” Rick Polden tells news.com.au.

The technician from Taree, NSW, led the charge to form the Association of Fixed Wireless and Satellite NBN Installers back in February. Since then he has been trying in vain to set up a meeting with Ericsson and NBN Co.

“We’re the coalface for this whole NBN, we’re the guys out there installing the equipment, we’re the one talking to the end user, we’re the one getting the feedback from the end user and we know of ways that we can improve the delivery but they don’t want to talk to us,” he said. “What are they so afraid of?”

He believes the group is being ignored because Ericsson is worried the technicians will unionise.

“We made it quite clear that as technicians we just wanted to sit down and work with everybody and look at ways we could improve the quality of service to the end user ... they won’t even knowledge our existence,” Mr Polden said.

“The association was borne out of absolute desperation,” Rick’s brother, Aub Polden, who is also a technician told news.com.au.

He also played a key role in establishing the association because “these technicians are being treated like idiots,” he said. “It’s just a shemozzle.”

CUSTOMERS GETTING A RUN AROUND

Technicians typically don’t receive their jobs for the following day until about 6pm the night before. Quite often they turn up to a job to find they’re the fourth or fifth technician to have been assigned to do the installation and are left dealing with an angry customer.

“I did a job today where I was the fourth tech assigned to do the job, and that’s by no means a record,” Aub Polden told news.com.au last week.

Ultimately, these troubles are hampering the pace of the remaining regional rollout.

Rick Polden, along with a number of other technicians, has since been told there is no more work as the NBN has completed much of the rural and regional areas and is moving into the capital cities as the rollout ramps up.

“They did this and we’re getting customer waiting twenty weeks to get fixed wireless installed,” he said. “The poor old customer out there that just wants their NBN switched on is getting a run around.”

South Australian man Ben Kingsbury is one of those customers.

“Our house was destroyed in a storm in November and the fixed wireless antenna was destroyed. We have been trying to get NBN to reinstall since April and despite daily and weekly calls and emails it is impossible to have anything done,” he wrote on the news.com.au’s Facebook page last week.

“We have had appointments made and no one turns up. Then NBN books the wrong technician who doesn’t come anyway.”

UNDERPAID AND IGNORED

Some technicians have complained of not being paid properly for travel times between remote jobs, having hours of work shaved off their invoices and being sent bills from delivery partners for stock which they don’t have.

News.com.au has been shown e-mail chains in which Hills Communication Solutions has said it would invoice technicians for stock which was unaccounted for.

“Most of the stock they are referring to has been installed but they failed to keep track of the stock,” one technician said.

Hills Connection Solutions refused to comment for the story.

Typically, delivery partners allocate about two hours for a fixed wireless installation but invariably some jobs take longer. But because they’re not confident they will be fully paid for the work, some technicians are walking away from jobs.



“I’ll be honest with you, I know of technicians now who if they rock up to job and it looks like a quoted job, they’re walking away from it,” Rick Polden said.

“They’re basically walking away from jobs. I know there’s a number of technicians taking that approach. Why should someone work four hours and only get paid for two?”

Another technician who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing further work said a delivery partner suddenly refused to pay travel costs ($1.5 per km) for certain jobs.

“There was a property that was a two-hour drive one way. We installed two there on separate days, both times we were paid for travel. We then went out to install another three satellite services on separate buildings. They suddenly refused to pay us travel,” the technician said.

“Therefore on the days we went out to jobs like this, it actually cost us money to do work.”



NBN IN THE DARK

The NBN has recently launched a marketing campaign to address consumer confusion and questions around the rollout. It comes as the company’s own records reportedly show a 15 per cent dissatisfaction rate among those who have moved onto the network. This figure has lead some to recently warn the Coalition — which favoured the multi technology mix NBN that prioritised a quicker and cheaper rollout over high quality fibre cable — could face a backlash at the next federal election from angry voters annoyed with their NBN connection.

When asked by news.com.au about attempts by the association of fixed wireless and satellite technicians to meet with the company, chief executive Bill Morrow said “it’s the first I’ve heard of it” but stated it “shouldn’t be the case” that technicians grievances have gone unanswered.

“Let me say, if somebody has a better idea for how things are being done today then we’re all ears. We want to hear that sort of thing,” Mr Morrow said.

A spokesperson for Ericsson said the company “values the work of our delivery partners who manage teams of technicians” and “technician inquiries are being addressed.”

“Inquiries that come through to the delivery partners are addressed. If the matter between the technician and the delivery partner cannot be resolved, it will be raised with the Ericsson team.”

“Our role in disputes over payment is to ensure that a fair and equitable process has been undertaken to resolve the dispute,” the company said.

“Some matters are currently under review.”

Nicholas.whigham@news.com.au