Telecommunications specialist Comscentre has called on the federal government to ensure Queensland gets its fair share of the National Broadband Network (NBN) action, regardless of where its headquarters is located.
Comscentre Managing Director Ben Shipley said aside from a Brisbane-based company winning contracts to build the office IT infrastructure for NBN Company, the body charged with rolling out the $43 billion project, there was yet to be any significant involvement from Queensland.
“The company already has teams working in Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania but Queensland is still left out in the cold,” Shipley said.
“Queensland has the knowledge base, expertise and public, academic and industry support to back its bid for the NBN headquarters.
“Regardless of where the company is based, or even if it has a headquarters, Queensland must get its fair share of the NBN action. At stake is a shot at some of the 35,000 jobs to be created by the high-speed broadband network's construction, as well as the state’s economic and technical growth.”
Shipley said Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy earlier this year said the location of the headquarters would not be decided until after the NBN Company's board and chairman were appointed.
“The NBN Company has a board, chief executive and employees and fibre is being rolled out in Tasmania,” he said.
“It should now start to think about announcing where the NBN’s headquarters will be.
“Queensland is Australia's fastest-growing state and enjoys rapid IT growth as well as a solid research and development track record, making it the ideal location for the NBN headquarters.”
Shipley also called for Australian banks and financial organisations to lead the charge on providing advice about the rollout of the NBN, rather than global companies.
“The recent announcement of Goldman Sachs as the banking and financial adviser to the NBN is disappointing,” he said.
“As Australia’s largest infrastructure project we would have thought that the Australian banks and financial organisations would have been far better placed to provide these services.”