Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I guess that I will have to explain to those opposite the difference between a wholesale and a retail company. Notwithstanding that those opposite have continued to claim we are going to need five million customers to make it pay, I do not believe this NBN Co. will ever ultimately have more than about 500 customers, because that is about how many ISPs there are in the country. The marketplace and the ISPs will engage in price competition to attract customers, and therefore that will be part of the package ultimately to be charged, but that will be a matter for the retail providers, not the wholesale company, for which we will be providing the connection. Think of it as if it were a phone. When you have the phone installed, you seek to get it connected; there is a connection fee, and that is charged by— (Time expired)