From the start, Australia's National Broadband Network was billed as a game changer that would future proof the nation by delivering super fast internet services. Almost a decade on from those promises, there's a growing number of angry residential customers and small businesses who are bitterly disappointed with the NBN. As the NBN reaches a milestone, passing the half-way point in its rollout, Four Corners investigates the problems fuelling this dissatisfaction. For many Australians, the NBN has turned out to be a lottery. Not all customers are receiving the same connections. And in some regional areas there is a stark digital divide, between those with high-speed fibre to the premises, and neighbours stuck with old copper connections who worry they're becoming digital second class citizens. We examine what's driving the decision making about the rollout, and investigate why some customers are being short-changed on expensive data plans that fail to deliver what they promise. As critics warn that Australia will soon be a decade behind its near neighbour New Zealand in the digital transformation, reporter Geoff Thompson visits New Zealand's 'Gigatown', Dunedin, to look at how superfast broadband is transforming the way they do business. Back in Australia, the government insists the NBN is going to plan and will be steadily upgraded. In interviews with the Communications Minister and the current and former heads of NBN Co. we examine whether a decade of politicking has compromised the ability of the NBN to deliver for all Australians.
Four Corners is Australia's premier television current affairs program. It has been part of the Australian story since August 1961, exposing scandals, triggering inquiries, firing debate, confronting taboos and interpreting fads, trends and sub-cultures. Its consistently high standards of journalism and film-making have earned international recognition and an array of Walkleys, Logies and other national awards.