(Telecompaper) The government of Australia announced in its latest state budget plans to reduce financing for the communications sector, including the country's National Broadband Network. The budget provides AUD 20.9 billion in equity funding to the NBN Co over the period 201415 to 201718. This amount is in addition to AUD 5.2 billion in equity provided from 2008 to 2013 and AUD 3.4 billion already planned for the current fiscal year. From 2018, the NBN will need to be self-financing or find additional investment from the private sector. The NBN's Strategic Review released in December 2013 found that the NBN would cost nearly twice what the current government has committed in funding and not be completed until 2024. The government said the previous administration under the Labor party "failed to meet its promises in relation to the NBN" and as a result the state will provide less funding and end its participation in the project sooner. Goign forward, the NBN will be expected to use a greater mix of technologies and rely more on existing infrastructure in order to lower the total cost and speed up delivery. According to the government, the new approach will save AUD 31.6 billion in funding costs, get the NBN finished four years sooner and enable nine out of ten Australians in the fixed-line footprint to get access to download speeds of 50 Mbps or more by 2019.