This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'NBN Multi-Technology Deployment Guidelines'.


 
19 December 2014 
 
Jxeeno 
Sent via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Our Ref:  FOI1415/27 
Dear Jxeeno, 
 
FOI Application – NBN Multi-Technology Deployment 
I am writing in relation to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act, 1982 (the FOI Act), seeking access to the 
detailed, technical guideline from which the “NBN Multi-Technology Deployment Principles” summary was based. 
 
The Statement of Reasons (Attached) outlines the specific terms of the FOI request, the decision-maker’s findings and the 
access decision. For your reference, the FOI decision is subject to review under sections 53A and 54 of the FOI Act. The Office 
of the Australian Information Commissioner’s FOI Fact Sheet 12 – Your review rights is attached for your information and may be 
found here. 
 
If you have any questions, need to discuss your FOI application or require any other information relating to this matter, please 
feel free to contact the writer on Tel. (02) 89185670 or via email on xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx. 
 
Kind regards 
 
 
Yvette Deerness 
Acting GM Legal Counsel 
FOI, Privacy and Knowledge Management 
 
cc. Justin Forsell, Chief Legal Counsel, NBN Co
PHONE 
(02) 9926 1900 
FAX 
(02) 9926 1901 
EMAIL 
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx 
WEB 
www.nbnco.com.au 
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060 
NBN Co Limited   ACN 136 533 741   © NBN Co 2013 


  
 
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – 1415/27 
 
Jxeeno 
 
ACCESS DECISION 
STATEMENT OF REASONS 
 
 
Background 
1.  NBN Co Limited (NBN Co) is a government business entity (GBE), which has the mandate of realising the Australian Government’s 
vision to develop a national broadband network that is truly national in character. 
 
2.  NBN Co recognises that information is a vital and an invaluable resource, both for the company and for the broader Australian 
community. That is why NBN Co fosters and promotes a pro-disclosure culture, with the goal of creating an organisation that is open, 
transparent and accountable. In that light, members of the public will be able to find a large amount of information freely available on 
our website. 
 
3.  In addition, NBN Co manages its information assets within the terms and spirit of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act or 
the Act). We also endeavour to release information proactively, while taking into account our commercial and other legal obligations. 
 
4.  Subject to relevant exemptions, the FOI Act gives the Australian community the right to access documents held by Commonwealth 
Government agencies, as well as “prescribed authorities”, such as NBN Co.  
 
5.  Under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act, NBN Co’s Chief Executive Officer has authorised me, Yvette Deerness, to make decisions about 
access to documents under the FOI Act. 
 
6.  Under section 26 of the FOI Act, I am required to provide a Statement of Reasons for my decisions in relation to FOI access 
applications. I am also required to set out my findings on any material questions of fact, referring to the material upon which those 
findings were based. 
Application Chronology and Terms of Request 
 
7.  On 13 November 2014, NBN Co received an email from Jxeeno of the “Right to Know” website (Applicant), in which he made an 
application under the Freedom of Information Act, 1982 (FOI Act or Act), seeking access to: 
 
the detailed, technical guideline from which the summary called the "NBN Multi-Technology Deployment Principles" was based off. 
 

8.  On 14 November 2014, NBN Co staff acknowledged receipt of the Applicant’s application as required by section 15 of the Act and 
informed the Applicant that a determination would be due on 13 December 2014. However, as 13 December 2014 fell on a Saturday, 
NBN was required to make a determination by Monday, 15 December 2014. 
 
9.  On 19 November 2014, NBN Co informed the Applicant that he was liable to pay a charge of $245 in respect of the processing of this 
request. As the charge exceeded $100, the Applicant was informed that he was liable to pay a deposit of 25% ($61.25). 
 
10.  On 21 November 2014, NBN Co received confirmation of the Applicant’s payment of $61.25. 
 
11.  On 15 December, I sought the Applicant’s consent to extend the due date for issue of my final decision to, Friday 19 December 2014. 
On the same day, the Applicant agreed to the new deadline, and NBN Co advised the Office of the Australian Information 
Commissioner that the Applicant had agreed, as per section 15AA of the FOI Act, to extend the processing deadline. 
 
PHONE 
(02) 9926 1900 
FAX 
(02) 9926 1901 
EMAIL 
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx 
WEB 
www.nbnco.com.au 
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060 
NBN Co Limited   ACN 136 533 741   © NBN Co 2013  
  

  
12.  On 19 December 2014 I finalised my decision as outlined below and forwarded this decision to the Applicant, advising the Applicant 
that I had waived the balance of the processing charges owing, as permitted by regulation 3 of the Freedom of Information (Charges) 
Regulations 1982

 
Findings of Material Fact 
 
13.  Following receipt of the Applicant’s request, NBN Co staff undertook searches through the company’s relevant files. Following these 
searches, I identified one document as falling within the scope this FOI request (Document).  
 
14.  To assist in making my decision, I sought advice from internal business experts regarding the commercial nature of the Document. 
 
Summary of Access Decision 
 
15.  As an FOI decision maker, it is open to me to consider whether the Document falls within the terms of section 7(3A) of the FOI Act – 
NBN Co’s commercial activities exemption (CAE) – and is, therefore, not subject to the operation of the Act. General background 
information regarding NBN Co’s FOI processes and the principles underpinning NBN Co’s CAE may be found at the following link. It is 
my decision that the Document falls within NBN Co’s CAE.  
 
16.  It is also my decision that the Document is exempt from release based upon section 47 (Commercially valuable information) of the FOI 
Act. 
Reasons for Decision 
 
Commercial Activities Exemption 

 
17.  As outlined above at paragraph 15, I refer you to a summary explanation regarding NBN Co’s CAE, found at the following link. It is my 
decision that the Document falls within the CAE. 
 
18.  The Document is a PowerPoint presentation and contains detailed descriptions of each element of NBN’s Multi-Technology Mix (MTM
planning process. It contains other details regarding NBN’s corporate planning process, including the internal outputs required to feed 
into the overall MTM planning process, estimates of the resourcing required to support the process and details of core data sets 
required, including those related to financial modelling and performance metrics. The company’s ability to plan, forecast resourcing – 
both labour and technology – and define core datasets, are all integral to the company’s ability to stay within budget, meet timelines for 
building the network, and operate efficiently. This in turn, will impact on NBN’s ability to return a profit. In this context, it is clear that the 
Document meets the threshold test, in that there is a link to the company’s profit-making or commercial goals. It follows therefore, that 
the Document may be described as falling within the section 7(3A) definition, and is not subject to the operation of the FOI Act. 
 
19.  Along with the substantive points set out above, I note that the Document has been watermarked as “commercial in confidence”. This 
suggests that the Document is commercial in nature, but this fact is indicative, rather than being determinative. 
 
20.  However, notwithstanding that I am of the view that the CAE applies to the Document, I have determined to exercise my discretion and 
to partially release the Document as permitted by section 22 of the FOI Act. In particular I have released slide 8 of the Document for the 
reason outlined in paragraph 21 below. 
 
21.  The ”NBN Multi-Technology Deployment Principles” document dated 13 November 2014 (Principles Document), which prompted the 
Applicant’s FOI request, sets out the business rules established to determine which technology is used in each locality i.e whether: 
 

existing infrastructure can be leveraged to deliver the required bandwidth and reliability to premises; 

delivery partners have construction capacity; 

network complexity can be reduced by consistent use of technologies within a particular area; 

advances in technology may mean an alternative approach may be preferable; 

there are opportunities to prioritise underserved areas; and 

there are opportunities to achieve early/high revenue (e.g from areas with a large number of business customers).     
 
In making my enquiries of relevant subject matter experts in our business in connection with this FOI request, it quickly became 
apparent to me that a comprehensive analysis is involved in the process of determining the deployment of MTM technology. It was in 
  

  
this context, and in recognition of the community interest in the processes that enable NBN Co to make its decisions as to which areas 
are rolled out before others, that I determined to exercise my discretion as outlined in paragraph 20 above, so as to provide the 
Applicant with further information, and to support that information already publicly available in the Principles Document, about the 
detailed planning that goes into determining the deployment of MTM technology. Slide 8 of the Document provides detail about the 
methodology involved in the planning process i.e: 
 

define geo model; model cost and revenue; 

optimise technology choice and rollout profile; 

apply financial model and validate performance; and 

deliver output to NBN Co stakeholders. 
 
General Exemptions (Commercially Valuable Information) 
 
22.  Section 47 of the FOI Act exempts documents from release if they would disclose trade secrets or commercially valuable information. 
The relevant section of the Act provides: 
 
Trade Secrets or Commercially Valuable Information 
47(1) A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act would disclose:  
….; or 
(b) any other information having a commercial value that would be, or could reasonably be expected to be, destroyed or diminished if 
the information were disclosed. 
 

23.  Drawing from the points made in relation to the “commercial activities” exemption above, I consider that the Document falls within the 
meaning of commercially valuable information for NBN Co, not least because it goes directly to the corporate planning activities of the 
company. As to the commercial value of the information, I am of the opinion that the value would be diminished or destroyed as it 
could be used by third parties to disadvantage NBN Co’s rollout and corporate planning efforts. In particular, the Document provides 
assumptions about resourcing requirements (both technology and people), which if released could be used by a number of market 
players to improve their negotiating position both in commercial arrangements with NBN Co and with other commercial entities in the 
telecommunications industry. This could disadvantage NBN Co. 
 
 
Additional Points 
 
24.  Without limiting the reasons noted above, there are other potential FOI exemptions, which could apply to the Document, including: 
confidential information (s.45); deliberative matters (s. 47C), and operation of agencies (s. 47E). Despite their potential application, I 
have not formally considered these potential exemptions. 
 
Processing Charges 
25.  It is NBN Co’s general policy to charge applicants for FOI processing time. In its Submission to the OAIC Charges Review, NBN Co 
outlined its support of fees and charges and their importance to the FOI scheme. In the Advance Deposit Request sent to the Applicant 
in November, estimated processing charges of $245 were detailed. The Applicant paid the advance deposit of $61.25 leaving a final 
amount owing of $183.75. While the search, retrieval and decision making time was accurately estimated in the Advance Deposit 
Request and in fact, more time was ultimately spent in making the decision - I have determined to waive the remainder of the amount 
owing. This fee waiver is permitted by regulation 3 of the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982, which provides decision-
makers with a general discretion to impose or not impose a charge, or impose a reduced charge for the processing of an FOI request 
and in part is an acknowledgment of the Applicant’s responsiveness throughout the process. 
 
Right of Review 
26.  If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you have certain rights of review. Details regarding your rights of review and appeal are 
outlined in the covering letter, provided with this Statement of Reasons. 
 
 
  

  
 
Annexure A 
Annexure A – NBN Co FOI Matter 1415/27 – NBN Multi-Technology Deployment (Partial Release) 
 
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act, 1982 (the FOI Act or the Act) enables Government authorities to delete exempt or irrelevant 
matter from a document that may allow for an edited form of the document to be released. 
 
 
  


Five steps in the MTM planning process 





Optimise 
Apply financial 
Deliver outputs 
Model cost and 
technology 
model and 
Define geo model 
to NBN Co 
revenue 
choice and 
validate 
stakeholders 
rollout profile 
performance 
• Define reference 
• Define the set of 
• Select the most 
• Calculate detailed 
• Create an output 
geo data set for 
feasible technology 
appropriate 
costs and key 
data set to 
premises, 
bundles 
technology bundle 
financial metrics 
adequately 
Distribution Area 
• Cost each 
per DA that 
based on timing of 
describe the rollout 
(DA), FAN, RCP 
technology bundle 
maximises NPV1 
costs and revenues 
for use by all 
etc. 
per DA to provide a 
using a set of 
in the proposed 
stakeholders 
 

ss
Iteratively perform 
set of possible 
business rules to 
rollout profile 
across NBN Co 
specific 
choices for the 
guide selection 
• Validate the rollout 
• Provide an 
roce
calculations to 
optimiser 
• Propose a practical 
against peak 
explanation as to 
P
better describe 
• Estimate revenues 
rollout profile and 
funding 
technology and 
premises and how 
associated with 
suggested 
requirements and 
rollout profile 
they are connected 
each technology 
sequence to 
other performance 
choice for all 
option per DA 
maximise cash 
metrics 
premises to ensure 
• Calculate the NPV 
flows2 within a set 
 
transparency of the 
for each technology 
of agreed 
process 
bundle per DA  
constraints 
 
  To arrive at a single 
To calculate the NPV 
To develop an 
To forecast a long term 
To enable the rest of 
le
a source of truth for geo 
per DA for each 
achievable rollout plan 
NBN financial plan 
NBN Co to plan using 
spatial data for MTM 
possible technology 
with a single technology  using the proposed 
an achievable rollout 
ion planning 
option for the optimiser 
bundle and profile for 
rollout plan 
plan that meets peak 
Rat
each DA 
funding requirements 
1. Directly optimising for peak funding is extremely complex, so to reduce complexity the optimiser will maximise for NPV as per the Strategic Review. 2. Maximise cash flows are used in order to reduce reliance on funding 
requirements as a proxy for minimising peak funding 
0. Proposed MTM model summary.pptx 
Page  0 
SENSITIVE COMMERCIAL / COMMERCIAL-IN-CONFIDENCE  
Draft—for discussion only