The Government has released a consultantion paper on the NBN and there is a specific section on Greenfield developments. The Government understands Fibre to the Home is the superior fixed line technology that will best position Australian consumers and businesses to take advantage of the growth in the digital economy. Senator Conroy last year said at the FTTH SIG working group "if I can mandate FTTH in greenfields, then I will".
The paper goes on to further say "Given the superior properties of fibre optic networks, it would be counter-productiv to have homes built in new developments with the latest building technology but connected by antiquated copper wires. Indeed, allowing copper connections to take place will lead to higher costs in the long run if these estates need to be ‘retro-fitted’ to deploy fibre optic connections in the future."
So to ensure that all developers install networks for the future using fibre optic
technology, the Government will mandate the use of fibre optic infrastructure to the
home and workplace in greenfield estates across Australia that are approved after
1 July 2010.
Reading the detail of the report, rollout of FTTH into greenfield estates will not be undertaken by the Government owned NBN company, but the industry. It would also be reasonable to assume any greenfield rollout will need to be consistant with the NBN regulation if not in technology, then structure so that means an "open access, wholesale only network". Currently in Australia today only OptiComm delivers a "true open access" network that meets all the requirements annouced so far by the Government.
So for those developers who have not got into FTTH so far, start changing your strategies to line up with the Government's planning approvals where telecommunications will become a key peice of infrastructure. It may also be time to speak to a good network operator, OptiComm being one.
5 comments:
- At 07 April, 2009 14:46 Anonymous said...
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Shameful plug for Opticomm, shameful
;-) - At 07 April, 2009 15:02 Anonymous said...
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Fantastic...it's about time the government caught up with what the likes of BES, Opticomm and Telstra have been doing for some years now. I do agree that the future is in "open access" because we all know what a lack of competition does to the market.
- At 07 April, 2009 15:04 Unknown said...
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Stephen,
Good article but the last line is a shameful plug and very Telstra like. While there is no disputing the fact that Opticom have got their act together and developers could do a lot worse, there are also other network operators out there as well catering for this market. Maybe next time highlight "time to speak to a good network operator, Opticom being one"..... huh - At 07 April, 2009 20:49 Anonymous said...
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Hoooray! About time.
Running water, sewerage, sealed roads, and more recently FTTH! - At 08 April, 2009 11:04 Stephen Davies said...
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Hi Donald,
Thank-you for the positive feed back.
While a number of carriers claim to be offering "open access", the government in their announcement yesterday clarified that "open access" is a wholesale only service that does not allow for the operator to compete against other retailers.
At this point in time OptiComm is the only network operating in Australia delivering "Open Access, Wholesale only" fibre to the home.
It is therefore reasonable to say that they should be contacting OptiComm, and I am employed by OptiComm and while this is a private blog, I might very well give a plug to the company I work for.
Cheers
