Perhaps the more alarming factor to surface (or lack thereof) from behind Mr Hockey’s speech, was the absence of an NBN alternative. It sounds a lot like the Lib’s are basically committed to scrapping Labor’s whole Digital Education Revolution which includes new high speed broadband, computers, networks and IT programs for schools and of course the entire National Broadband Network project.

It’s one thing to throw around speculative numbers on how the Liberal party can return the economy back into the black by scrapping this and that, but without making any real policy announcements on sound alternatives, suggests uncertainty for effectively mounting a credible case. This leaves significant doubt that the only achievable outcome that a new Liberal Government in power would bring, is a return to the lack lustred innovative and visionary ‘dark ages’ of pre 2007 Governemnt.

Published by Ronnie on May 24, 2010 at 3:41 pm

Australian ISPs BigPond, iiNet and Internode discuss whether the National Broadband Numbers stack up.

via ZDNet Australia.

First services from the Tasmanian leg of the NBN are expected to be switched on by mid-2010.

via The Australian.

The federal government has finally announced the release of the ‘Request for Proposals’ (RFP) to build the new high speed National Broadband Network. Up to $4.7 billion has been granted by the government to the successful bidder to build a network which must deliver broadband speeds of 12Mbit to at least 98% of Australian premises.

Analysts are predicting that Telstra will win the bidding proposal due to the ease it would have of rolling out (of should I say updating) a network. Considering the amount of infrastructure that it already owns, along with their extensive knowledge of the networks already in place, it appears that Telstra’s chances of winning the National Broadband Network project to be extremely high. Strengthening this theory is the numerous handicaps that Telstra’s competitors will face.

Lodgements for proposals close on July 25.

On obstacles facing Telstra’s competitors…
“In using network information, proponents acknowledge that they do so at their own risk and acknowledge that neither the Commonwealth nor carriers who have provided the Network Information bear any liability in relation to their use of the data.”

Then there is simply the limited time they have to access, digest the information and incorporate it in their plans: they will gain access to the information in May and June and the closing date for response to the RFP is 25 July.

Pro’s for Telstra…
In contrast, not only does Telstra have total access to this information in ways that should be well integrated with its other information systems, it is intimately familiar with it and, as it has repeatedly boasted, has already done all the planning and could start rolling out the network at the drop of a hat.

Government invites National Broadband Network proposals: Media Release
National Broadband Network Request for submissions on regulatory issues: Media Release
Read more at itwire.com

Got an opinion on the forthcoming new Broadband national network for Australia? The federal Government is giving the Australian public two weeks to have their say on plans for the new $4.7 billion Broadband Network.

Communications Minister ‘Stephen Conroy’ stated that the government values any input from individuals and organisations toward the panel for their consideration for the new network. So if you have some insight that you think might be valuable, you have until March 30th to lodge your submission.

“I am sure there are a number of individuals and organisations that are interested in the Australian broadband market and that will be able to provide informed submissions to aid in the panel’s consideration of the issues.

“The Government values their input to this very important process, which will secure Australia’s digital future for many years to come,” Senator Conroy said.

Read the entire ‘Broadband network seeks public input’ article at AustralianIT.com.au

One way or another, the time of deliberation and contemplating a new Australian FTTN network is almost over. Days have turned into months, political parties have changed office, and months will soon turn into years unless something is done shortly. We are still yet to see any real advancement toward obtaining a network tender, and although we’re not expecting a final decision to be made anytime soon, it’s appearing that something may give way shortly.

More importantly, is the need for major change and solutions to problems that indirectly affect a new network before it’s even built.  These issues could appear in the form of endless litigation threats, anti competitive tactics & poor regulatory arbitration that bog down courtrooms, drive prices sky high and hinder the path of progress.

Stephen Conroy and the Rudd government have a potential major issue on their hands other than the huge costs and development behind producing a new national Broadband network. They have an issue facing them that could severely hamper the blueprint for a prosperous future in Australia’s Communications & Technology industry, and this resides with who wins the tender rights to build the new network.

If it’s not Telstra, then be prepared for all hell to break loose, especially if the government hasn’t taken appropriate measures to keep the lion on it’s leash. A new national Broadband network may be closer than we know? Then again who knows, we might see agenda for structural separation appear before we witness a new Australian Broadband Network?

He should then sit down, brew a pot of peppermint tea and redraw his policy objectives to give himself, and all Australians, the best chance of success. Something bold and radical needs to be done in the telecoms sector.

Telstra has the best information and its rivals want it released so they can compete fairly for the Government’s money. Conroy needs to rule on this.

Some have suggested the issue is so important the Government should seize control of pricing and access in order to break the nexus of the arbitrate-debate-litigate model that has not got the industry very far for 10 years.

Read the whole ‘FTTN decision can’t be rushed’ article at AustralianIT.com.au

In a takeover that could effectively provide 200,000 households with telecommunication bundling services that include home phone, mobile phone, TV and Broadband Internet products, the purchase of Neighbourhood Cable by TransACT will also position themselves prominently within the Government’s National Broadband initiative.

TransACT Communications has announced it will acquire the Victorian company, Neighbourhood Cable, from 1 January 2008. The acquisition comes after a period of continuing growth by both companies and positions the enlarged entity as the second strongest telecommunications service provider in four of the top 30 population centres in Australia.

“Importantly, the acquisition positions us well to actively contribute to the Federal Government’s national broadband agenda as both companies have extensive telecommunications infrastructure in their regions.”

Read the entire announcement at TransACT.com.au

Just like Australia has a new political party in power, we also have a new Communications Minister. Senator Stephen Conroy has been appointed Australia’s new Communications Minister under Kevin Rudd’s Cabinet lineup. Perhaps Senator Conroy’s most important task as the new Minister will be overseeing the development of the Federal Government’s new national fibre-to-the-node Broadband network. One thing is for certain, Mr Conroy will also need a suit of Armour to keep telco giant ‘Telstra’ in check along with the arduous task of building a new Broadband network for Australians.

Australia now has a minister for broadband, under Kevin Rudd’s new cabinet lineup. Senator Stephen Conroy will be the minister for broadband, communications and digital economy.

Given that a central part of conservative political theory is light-touch, non-interventionist government and letting the free market operate, it speaks volumes that the former conservative government thought it so important to strongly regulate Telstra.

Read the entired article at APCmag.com

In an Election ’07 debate held last week on the Sky channel, both major Political Parties went head to head over Australia’s Telecommunication issues, namely Broadband. Labor Communication’s spokesman ‘Stephen Conroy’ accused Coalition Communication’s Minister ‘Helen Coonan’ of not only lying, but rewriting the laws of physics.

Although there are no official regulations and reports that support or condem these figures, it appears that most WiMax enthusiasts tend to agree that Coonan’s WiMax Speeds figures fall way short of actual speeds attainable, unless we’re living in a ‘perfect world’.

“There are so many things that are technically wrong with what Helen has just said. Internode is not suggesting that it can get 12Mbps at 25km. That is just a lie. Internode can’t get 12Mbps to 20km. The Minister continues to rewrite the laws of physics,” he said.

“If she was a business, Graham Samuel [head of the ACCC] would fine her for false and misleading advertising. He requires Internode, he requires every wireless provider to use the words ‘up to’ 12Mbps,” continued Conroy

Unfortunately for Coonan, and for rural Australians, we’re still far from a perfect world.

Read the entire article at ZDNet.com.au

Australia’s ongoing conjecture over a new Broadband network and what type of technology to use continues with discussion and further research into Broadband over Power Lines (or BPL). With potential bandwidth that can deliver speeds up to 200Mbps, it’s no wonder that many Telcos and Utility companies are running studies and tests to scrutinize the feasibility of BPL.  Check out the following articles to obtain a deeper insight into Broadband over Power Line technology and the research that’s currently being conducted here in Australia.

PCWorld.idg.com.au BPL Article
Chapman said the response from over 300 participating households in the Queanbeyan and Jerrabomberra region has been very positive and there have also been many requests that could not be tackled as they were just outside the pilot-designed geographic area.

Other BPL trials in Australia include those by Victoria’s SP AusNet, and Tasmania’s Aurora Energy. The technology is also gathering steam in the enterprise market where Brisbane’s Treasury Casino is using it in a heritage-listed building, where they were prohibited from installing new network cabling.

ZDNet.com.au BPL Article
John Norton, executive general manager for public network solutions at NEC Australia, said the company is already in talks with some carriers over deploying BPL to provide “last mile broadband” access, but declined to name the carriers involved.

One of the Federal Government’s Broadband initiative schemes include the ‘Australian Broadband Guarantee’ program. So what is it and how can it help you? The ABG aims to provide similar Metro Broadband services to those outside these areas who otherwise have insufficient Internet access or none at all. The overall agenda of the ABG, along with supplying comparable services to these areas, is to plug broadband black spots and provide Broadband access rights to rural and regional Australians under HiBIS and Broadband Connect programs.

Broadband Internet Providers will be eligible under ABG guidelines to receive funding from the Government in order to introduce new services into many new areas. More than $160 million dollars has been assigned to the program and will be divided up among Providers respectively. Current Australian Providers already signed up to the ABG include Telstra BigPond, Westnet and Internode. These ISPs will develop and establish new Broadband services in many areas and deliver Broadband types such as ADSL, ADSL2+ and WiMAX Wireless to some Aussie residents for the first time.

Broadband Guide will endeavor to keep you up to speed on regions becoming equipped with new ABG provided services. Further information on the ABG, along with other Broadband initiatives can be found by visiting DICTA.gov.au right here.

Back in the early stages of Australian Broadband Internet development, namely ‘Cable’, we witnessed Telstra and Optus pitted against each other in a race to rollout high speed Cable Broadband networks. Sure one could argue that competition is a ‘good thing’, although a duopoly may not get the desired results. But then we have the flip side of the equation. As we had a government back then which let these two companies ‘double up’ on rolling out expensive Cable Infrastructure which some might argue was a ‘wasted’ opportunity along with a tremendous amount of money.  The question is – Couldn’t Mr Howard have come up with a better solution at the time instead of letting the Telco’s double up their Cable Networks?

Now, a couple of election terms later, we are again witnessing the ‘doubling up’ of Broadband Infrastructure as the Government’s Australian Broadband Guarantee initiative hand over funding to Telstra to install DSLAMs in South Australia that have already been served by Internode. The catch is, Internode have also been funded by the Australian Broadband Guarantee initiative to install the same ADSL2+ technology at some of the same exchanges??

This quote below was made by a furious and bewildered ‘Simon Hackett’ (Internode CEO).

“In the regions we operate in, in regional SA, there are 11 exchanges in that list that represent overbuilds of our existing regional wireless networks (networks which hold formal ABG approval to service for new customers as of now), and 3 out of that 11 have Internode DSLAM’s (sic) in them already, to boot!” he wrote.

“That means that Telstra have mislead (sic) DCITA about which exchanges don’t have ADSL in them already, and DCITA have failed to check their own records to verify those claims.”

“Telstra published a large list of regional exchanges for deployment by March 07 ( a strangely familiar list of exchanges…) and then quietly removed them again, before doing the ABG negotiations – and now I’m sure they’ll mysteriously build those exchanges very, very quickly – as if they had them all there ready for months, and just not turned on for political reasons. The whole idea is to expand access, not to have Telstra take a government handout to help them crush competitors by overbuilding them. Shades of FTTN.”

Read the entire article at Commsday.com

Fibre-to-the-Home is slowly rolling out as an initiative between Telstra and developers is set to provide 1800 homes with a new Broadband services that will support streaming high definition video content by early 2008. The FTTH network will roll out Broadband Internet, Television & Telephone services into the respective development area which should become an alternative to copper-based ADSL Broadband.

As part of its Telstra Smart Community agreement, the telco is rolling out fibre to the home (FTTH) to about 1800 homes at a development being built by Lend Lease at Rouse Hill in Sydney’s northwest. The first customers are expected to be connected in early 2008.

“Telstra Velocity is a commercial venture and will only be deployed in new greenfield developments where there is appropriate investment by the developer, where the developer has signed a Telstra Smart Community agreement and where Telstra can make a commercial return on its investment.”

Read the entire article at Australia IT.

The widely anticipated Broadband network deal for the country has finally been signed by both the Federal Government and the Optus led consortium. Ironically, the $1Billion tax payer funded Broadband network development program has been given the final nod only days before Telstra take Communications Minister ‘Helen Coonan’ to court over the alleged ‘unfairness’ of the selection process, and on the eve of an impending election announcment.

The Communications Minister, Helen Coonan announcement, has forged ahead with the Opel agreement after weeks of delays despite scathing criticism of her handling of the selection process for the Broadband Connect program.

Telstra has claimed the Communications Department selected Opel as the preferred bidder four months before the minister announced it as the winner. Furthermore, it claimed Opel was the only party to get an opportunity to bid for a further $358 million.

Read the entire article at SMH by clicking here.

Could Broadband over Power Lines be the answer to Australia’s ongoing Broadband dilemma? It appears that most practical alternatives of Broadband technology either involve using Telstra’s copper wire network to some degree or breach the too expensive bracket such as that of a ‘Fibre to the Home’ network. If BPL could produce a quality service that suits Australia’s future Broadband requirements, wouldn’t this be the ideal solution we’ve all been hoping for? After all, the infrastructure is already in place which suggests costing to implement such a network would also be considerably cheaper.

So what’s the catch, who’s using it, and why haven’t most Aussies already heard about Broadband over Power Line technology? It’s definitely not something to underestimate that’s for sure, considering it’s caught the attention of an Optus led consortium who are currently trailing the power line alternative with the likes of Integral Energy, Energy Australia and CitiPower.

A CONSORTIUM led by Optus is considering the use of powerlines to deliver broadband to homes, as it prepares to battle Telstra for rights to build a high-speed broadband network.

Broadband over powerlines would provide the G9 with an alternative to fibre-based broadband technology that relied on Telstra’s copper network.

What is BPL?
BPL stands for Broadband over Power Line (aka Power-Line Internet or Powerband) which is a power line communication (PLC) technology for Broadband Internet Access. A special BPL Broadband Modem is all that would be required to receive and send Internet transmissions as PLC can be used to home network computers and other associated peripherals also.

Are BPL services viable for Australia?
On the surface there’s no doubting that BPL services could match or better DSL and Cable Broadband technologies, however electrical network characteristics, signal strengths, operating frequency and Electrical Standards (IEEE) would need to be addressed in order to make a BPL Broadband network a commercially viable option.

Who’s using BPL?
You might be surprised to know that parts of Australia (namely Tasmania) are currently trailing BPL using Japanese ‘Mitsubishi’ technology, and have been doing so for quite sometime. Power line Broadband has been developing in Europe and the USA for many years also with thousands upon thousands of residents taking up BPL services. Download Speeds in excess of 100 Mbit/s have been documented suggesting that under the right conditions, BPL technology has more than enough output to produce a Broadband network that can accommodate the guidelines within the government’s high-speed broadband network proposal.

BPL certainly appears to have the technology and infrastructure in place to produce High Speed Broadband Internet services, but until developers can harness and facilitate the powerline communication technology to an acceptable standard, it might be sometime off yet.

Get up to speed and read more on Power Line Communication (PLC) &  Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) at wikipedia by clicking here. Read more on the Optus lead consortium powerline trial at AustralianIT

With all this talk about a new high speed Broadband network for Australia, and should it be based on Fibre to the home or Fibre to the node technology, it has prompted me to get down to the basics for those of you out there who aren’t up to speed.

The current Australian liberal government is seeking tenders to build a new Broadband network. The guideline prospectus that was recently released suggests that the network infrastructure has to be faster than anything available today with the future potential of being upgradeable.  It appears that only two variations will have the requirements to suit such a network (FTTN or FTTH). So what is the fundamental difference between the two, and how much will they cost? Let’s take a closer look.

FTTN – Fibre to the node (aka fibre to the neighborhood or fibre to the cabinet – FTTCab):
FTTN is a telecommunication technology that uses ‘fibre optic’ cables that run from a cabinet in a local neighborhood. Connecting to this infrastructure from your home is done so by using ‘coaxial cable’ (the cable we currently use now for broadband services) or twisted pair wiring. Typically, a FTTN cabinet serves a few hundred customers in an approximate radius of 1.5kms or so. If the area that a cabinet serves is less than approximately 300ms, it would be then referred to as ‘Fibre to the curb’ (FTTC or fibre to the kerb FTTK).

FTTH – Fibre to the home (aka fiber to the premises – FTTP)
FTTH (like FTTN) is another variation of a ‘fibre optic’ telecommunication transmission technology. However it runs straight to the subscriber’s premises and therefore differentiates from FTTH as it does not use the ‘coaxial cable’ nor ‘twisted pair wiring’ methods.

How fast – Fibre Speeds
FTTN & FTTH technology can both produce Broadband speeds in the vicinity of 15-50Mbit/s. However, only a FTTH has the potential to reach office desktop speeds of 100-1,000Mbit/s (1Gbit).

How much – Fibre Prices $$
It’s been suggested that a FTTH network would cost about $1500 per household. While some argue that’s twice the amount that a FTTN network would cost, others suggest that a ball park FTTN figure is around $4.5 billion, and a FTTH network $20 billion.

While we in Australia await the deliberations of the government’s expert panel on fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), other countries in the region are steadily building fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) access networks.

There are four main ways in which a major network upgrade can be justified: investment in national infrastructure; new services; operations cost savings; and competitive response.

both could deliver 50Mbit/s downstream and 1-2Mbit/s upstream. But, eventually, if we all want the line rates currently delivered to office desktops – namely, 100-1,000 Mbit/s – then FTTH will be required.

A broader view of the issues, such as reduced road traffic through greater home working and remote delivery of health and education services, could start to close the cost gap between FTTN and FTTH. 
 

Will it be a case that Australia is caught on the ‘back foot’ when it comes to technological advancements and may be left behind for sometime to come? Or will we get a high speed state-of-the-art Broadband network that will keep us on par with the rest of the world (or possibly higher) which will help our nation, and economy, excel toward future prosperity. Which ever the case, we’ll have to wait until after this year’s election well and truly passes for a decision.

Read the entire ‘Fibre: going all the way? article here at ovum

Additional Information and Statistics
FTTH & FTTN research gathered from http://en.wikipedia.org
FTTH & FTTN Network costs sourced from The Age.com
Speeds & Prices researched from Fibre: going all the way article at ovum.com

While the two major Australian political parties are at logger heads over high speed Broadband for Australia, one thing is for certain, a new fast Broadband network will have a major positive impact on our nation. To reiterate on a article I recently wrote titled ‘Broadband Future’ back on Aug 10 2007, it appears that more and more people are starting to see the potential positives that a high speed Broadband network will have on Australia once it’s established.

A recent Nine MSN article and expert government executive ‘Matt Healy’ have stated that very fast Broadband will give people more than just IPTV, Video-on-demand and High definition TV, it will give the nation the ability to work from home – even from regional and remote areas. However, even the fastest Broadband network will need to be affordable in order to make these predicitons reality.

According to Matt Healy, napredictionstional executive regulatory and government with Macquarie Telecom (a member of the G9 group competing with Telstra for the right to build the national fibre network), it’s not the sexy services like high-definition TV on demand that will have the biggest impact, it’s the ability for people anywhere – even in remote areas – to work from home.

Video-conferencing is another area that holds great promise, especially in healthcare and education. Doctors in city hospitals could assist with the diagnosis of cases in remote areas via a video link, providing treatment recommendations long before a patient could get to a specialist.

Read the entire Nine MSN article here

The governement is starting to introduce measures like rushing a Future Funds spending prevention amendment through Parliament which appears will hinder Labor’s Broadband network planning if they were to be successful next election. Furthermore, a recent ‘Future Fund’ article, which also depicts an image of Senator Minchin and current Treasurer Costello laughing, has people speculating that the current government could also be in process of conceding it’s position at the helm. Case of sour grapes perhaps?

The article in question states that it would stop Labor robbing the future generations by raiding the Future Funds. However, it could be quite the contrary as in affect, it may rob the future generations who would be relying on the best possible Broadband infrastructure that Labor are likely to introduce by using part of the Future Fund assets.

As it stands, the whole process could merely amount to an expensive and pointless time wasting excersie as a Rudd government could remove any future changes to this bill, however it would still require the support of the Senate which it would not control.

The legislation is expected to be passed next month, so it will be in place before the election

They would “stop the Labor Party robbing future generations by raiding the Future Fund, taking its annual earnings and dictating to the board that it should invest its money in advancing Labor’s political interests”.

While a Rudd government could remove the changes, this would require the support of the Senate, which it would not control.

Read the entire ‘Bid to lock up Future Fund’ at The Age

Australia needs a very fast Broadband network now, there’s no doubting that! While the Australian federal government spends $4 billion annually on our roads,  in comparison, it’s quite amazing really, to understand why they’ve elected to only allocate $4.5 billion on a new Australian Broadband network? Some of the guidelines stated in their new network prospectus show that ‘it should be upgradeable’. Why then develop a slower Fibre-to-the-Node network only for it to be superseded down the track by a possible faster Fibre-to-the-home network? We all know that new technology is being developed almost as frequently as it becomes obsolete in some case, so could it be probable that Wireless or Satellite Broadband may replace fibre at some stage too?   

Considering the various factors that are vital to Australia’s future economy and prosperity which partially sit behind the IT & Telecommunication industry, some of us are left dumb founded. This includes various Broadband experts who are continually sending out warning signs that suggest that it may already be too late unless Australia acts intelligently.

Below are some quotes and statistics taken from The Age article ‘Broadband expert warns Australia’.

if that situation is to change, the Government has to encourage investment in taking optical fibre cables not just to street corner nodes, but all the way to homes

The broadband speed available to Australian home owners can be as low as 256 kilobits per second although 1 mbps or so is becoming more common for users within a few kilometres of Telstra telephone exchanges.

“If we all want the line rates currently delivered to office desktops — namely, 100-1000 mbps, then a fibre to the home (FTTH) network will be required,” Mr Campbell says.

Read the entire article at The Age

Telstra BigPond has announced a 30Mbit cable network upgrade toward the end of the year which will eventually be made available to 2.7 million Australian households. The upgrade could eventually witness broadband speeds of 50 – 100 Mbit/s be implemented as an alternative to a FTTN in metro areas.

Mr Trujillo indicated Telstra was working on alternatives to a fibre-to-the-node network in metropolitan areas, such as an upgrade to the Foxtel cable, which could eventually provide broadband speeds of between 50 and 100 megabits per second to 2.7 million homes.

Telstra is expected to ramp up the cable’s speeds – used to deliver pay TV and next-generation broadband technology – to 30 megabits per second by August, before launching the upgrade a month later.

Read entire article at SMH

The panel of experts in charge of assigning a tender to build Australia’s new high speed Broadband network have released the process guidelines for it’s development. Prospective tenders will have 17 weeks in which to lodge proposals, however the expert taskforce would then require 3 months in which to scrutinize and assess the proposals prior to giving a report detailing recommendations to Senator Coonan. The time limitations involved with the decision making suggest that a successful tender candidate will not be announced prior to this year’s election.  Where that will leave the whole Broadband network initiative at that stage will be anyone’s guess, especially if Labor do move into office.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan said the government would not be adopting a one size fits all mentality over the broadband network. “The guidelines do not specify that the high speed network must be a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network. It could contain a fibre-to-the-home upgrade path or another alternative high speed broadband platform.

According to the opposition communications spokesman ‘Stephen Conroy’, the current guidelines are not detailed enough and fail to meet some vital criteria such as the extent of coverage areas and minimum connection speeds. 

“Given the government’s disastrous track record of backing obsolete technologies, no one should feel secure that these guidelines will deliver Australia a future-proof broadband solution,” Senator Conroy said. 

Read Senator Helen Coonan’s ‘A framework for our next high speed broadband network’ media release here
View the Members of the Expert Taskforce here
Download and view the ‘Expert Taskforce draft guidelines’ PDF here (File size: 480Kb) 

Read the entire article here at ZDNet

The reality is that the minister is misleading the Australian public. Under the Government’s broadband plan Australians can expect speeds up to 20 times today’s average.

Meanwhile, it appears that Labor’s policy on the Broadband Network is going from strength to strength in wake of the governments handling of the project and is being adopted as a ‘more realistical’ approach by the public.

That is why Labor has proposed a national broadband plan that extends the superior technology, fibre-to-the-node, into rural and regional areas, to offer not just city comparable pricing but parity of service. The fibre-to-the-node service will deliver to 98 per cent of Australians guaranteed minimum connection speeds that are 40 times faster than today’s average.

Read the entire article here at The Australian