THE NEWS WRAP: Turnbull claims 300,000 properties will miss out if NBN plan doesn’t change

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to claim up to 300,000 premises outside the NBN’s fixed line footprint will miss out on broadband without changes, in a speech to be delivered today.

 

In a speech to be delivered at the CommsDay conference in Sydney, leaked to Fairfax Media’s Matthew Knott, Turnbull will say that the number of properties requiring a satellite or fixed wireless connection has been dramatically underestimated.

 

“The problems mean that without policy changes, the project as planned would not be able to service an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 premises outside of the fixed line footprint,” Turnbull will say.

 

“If the NBN were to take steps to eliminate the ‘coverage gap’, the company faces a deterioration of operating cash flows of its satellite and fixed wireless networks of up to $1.2 billion by 2021.”

 

Twitter unveils user profile redesign

 

Twitter has unveiled a redesign of its user profile pages, with the changes coming in response to new user growth hitting an all-time low during the last quarter.

 

The features, currently available to a select number of users, include the ability to pin posts to the top of a users’ feed, as well as the introduction of Facebook-style banners and larger profile pictures.

 

Business confidence falls as conditions improve

 

Business confidence fell to its lowest level since the federal election during March, despite an improvement in business conditions, according to the latest NAB Monthly Business Survey.

 

The survey shows that while conditions improved from zero points to one, confidence fell to a score of four, down from seven in February and nine in January.

 

“It appears as though firms are responding to the ongoing sluggishness in business activity, which has not quite reflected the exuberance of firms in past months,” NAB chief economist Alan Oster says.

 

“The stubbornly high Australian dollar, uncertainty over the global economy and the potential for significant ‘belt tightening’ in the upcoming budget, could all have contributed as well.”

 

Overnight

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up to 16256.1. The Aussie dollar is down to US93.61 cents.

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