Broadband woes as companies try to cheapen
Tasmanian NBN contractors have met with lawyers to discuss legal action against one of the companies in charge of the roll-out.
NBN workers say VisionStream misled them by promising work that had not been confirmed, and will now not occur.
A spokesperson for the group has told reporters that many workers will lose their jobs, unless ViosonStream compensates them.
“We're at the situation now where if they don't assist these contractors, they’re going to go broke and be put on the dole,” he said.
He said there have been no offers of help from any part of the government either.
“Everyone's sort of blaming everybody else or they've inherited the problem from somebody else but at the end of the day, that's not helping us out.”
VisionStream will not comment until it has information on formal proceedings.
Lawyers are reportedly travelling from Sydney to meet with the contractors in Tasmania.
Meanwhile, NBN Co is looking to cut costs by no longer offering to install broadband hardware at the users’ end.
NBN Co had previously been setting up ADSL modems and other equipment for free, which some ISPs charge over $50 to do.
An internal report supposedly seen by Australian Financial Review reporters says the company may save millions by making people do it themselves.
The recommendations also include no longer giving out back-up batteries for medical devices and voice services.
They had been provided to keep the equipment running under power outages, but it seems the NBN Co bosses may deem it too extravagant and expense.
Reports say NBN Co wants to give responsibility back to ISPs.