In the biggest broadband news to hit the Internet since Telstra was dumped from the NBN process, the incumbent today announced a Cable Broadband upgrade of 100Mbps which will triple existing speeds. Telstra’s timely media release has coincidently surfaced within days of an expected National Broadband Network decision to be made by the Australian Federal Government.

Work on the Telstra cable upgrade roll out will use the latest DOCSIS 3.0 software technology and has been scheduled to start immediately with completion targeted for December this year. The next level of cable broadband speeds is not expected to finish at 100Mbps either, as further upgrade capacities suggest cable broadband potentials can reach speeds of up to 200Mbps.

Although Telstra may be excluded from the Australian NBN process, the Telco still appears to be rapidly releasing upgrades and new features whilst expanding on their already impressive network coverage. It’s almost as though Telstra was seeking to obtain an early ‘upper hand’ against a prospective NBN rival that is due to be announced any day now.

By the end of this year, and provided that all forecasts go to plan, Telstra will have upgraded it’s 2.5 million subscriber cable broadband network to 100Mbps; possibly increased it’s Next G mobile wireless service from 21Mbps to 42Mbps; consolidated broadband Internet access to 99% of the population; and as a result, enabled the potential for millions of people to work from home, improve home automation capabilities and opened the door to an online world of entertainment that includes high definition content viewing.

Funnily enough, this Telstra blueprint could almost deliver high speed broadband of at least 12Mbps (as defined by the Government’s NBN guidelines) to the majority of the population without needing the NBN funding of $4.7 billion? If Telstra was to provide minimum broadband Internet speeds of 12Mbps on both of it’s existing ‘Next G’ and ‘Hybrid Coaxial Cable Networks’, it would only leave an ADSL2+ upgrade to VDSL2 technology in it’s path of meeting the NBN speed requirement.

VDSL2 (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2) is a broadband Internet access technology that could supercede ADSL2+ services and can theoretically support speeds of 250Mbit/s at the source. However, beyond this distance the speed quickly deteriorates to 100Mbps at 0.5kms, 50Mbps at 1km, then to ADSL2+ speeds (24Mbps) at 1.6kms.

Telstra has already tested VDSL technology and ‘all bets are off’ that this type of technology will be the next in line for a roll out beyond the upcoming cable and Next G upgrades. If VDSL2 does become reality, then Telstra will basically have all the mechanisms in place to compete against an alternative National Broadband Network structure based on the Government’s pre-requisite minimum speed of 12Mbps.

Telstra Media Release.

Australia’s 3rd largest telecommunication provider iiNet has successfully trialled VDSL2 broadband technology with broadband download speeds reaching 85Mbps and uploads hitting the the 47 megabits per second mark.

In readiness for VDSL2 ratification in Australia, iiNet has been testing VDSL2 technology in Perth whilst in preparation to roll out VDSL2 equipment in mini exchanges across the country. Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2 has been extensively trialled by many of Australia’s leading telecommunication providers over the course of the past 12 – 18 months. The likes of Telstra BigPond and EFTel are just two of the Internet Service Providers to have researched and trialled the high speed Internet technology.

VDSL2 has been touted to have the capacity to deliver broadband access up to 250 Mbit/s (at source), although speeds significantly decline after several hundred meters to 100 Mbit/s at 0.5 km, followed by 50 Mbit/s at 1 km after which it degrades much slower until it equals speeds of ADSL2+ at 1.6 kms. Still, most Telephone Exchanges housing VDSL2 should support broadband speeds of at least 12 Mbit/s (NBN defined minimum) that will deliver triple play services (Broadband, Phone, Digital TV) to the majority of households within a 4 – 5 km radius.

Check out iiNet’s current Naked DSL Plans right here. http://broadbandguide.com.au/iinet/naked-dsl/plans 

Broadband Internet speeds of 25-50 megabits per second (Mbps) to 65-75% of households, and 12-20Mbps to the remaining 25-35% that cover 80-90 percent of the population. These are figures that can be achieved by Telstra for a national broadband network VDSL2 Fibre to the Curb ‘upgrade’ (FTTC, also known as Fibre to the Node). After following the progression of the NBN saga closely, it’s an extremely possible scenario that could be well on the money and have a very fast turn-around time to boot. 

VDSL2 research and testing has not only commenced, but has been well underway for quite sometime now by Australia’s largest telecommunications provider ‘Telstra’. The incumbent has been playing their cards very close to their chest and has been unwilling to reveal it’s blueprint for Australia’s new $4.7 billion dollar (or should I say $10 billion?) high speed broadband network. If they were to win, the odds are very short that their preferred choice of broadband delivery method would in fact be VDSL2. This type of telecommunication technology could easily support simultaneous triple play services such as high speed broadband, voip/telephony & digital TV (or IPTV) products at the minimum government required broadband speed of 12Mbps.

Although Telstra submitted a ‘non compliant’ NBN proposal, this is not to say that the telco cannot stitch up a ‘backdoor’ deal with the government that will take advantage of VDSL2 technology for a proposed NBN. You see, it’s no secret that Telstra has been considering VDSL2 as it’s primary architecture for a NBN. There are plenty of facts’, quotes, and articles floating around the Internet to suggest that Telstra are in the box seat when it comes to A – Being the most logical and experienced bidder to take on and build a broadband network of this magnitude; and B – Use VDSL2 technology (Very high speed Digital Subscriber Line) which provides faster speeds over similar distances using copper lines than that of ADSL2+. VDSL2 is essentially an upgrade that will supersede ADSL2+ DSLAMs in telephone exchanges across Australia. Whether DSLAMs will remain for other ISPs to use (if this were to be the case) is another story.

For example, an article appearing on New Zealand based Stuff.co.nz just recently, and of course Telstra’s non compliant 12 page NBN proposal, is reporting that a Telstra constructed national broadband network would use VDSL2 technology and be built by 4000 workers using Alcatel- Lucent materials and equipment. It makes perfect sense that the facilitation in regards to accessing and upgrading exchanges with the required new equipment to be governed by Telstra, after all who else knows an Australian exchange better than Telstra themselves? With this in mind, along with the threat of countless court room litigation cases if Telstra were not to win the NBN, a VDSL2 roll out would be performed much much more faster by Telstra than any other party.

Kevin Rudd, Stephen Conroy, their NBN panel and the Australian Government have an enormous and convoluted task with the whole NBN dilemma as it now stands. Not only do the need to ‘tick off’ pre-election promises, however they also need to consider the possible backlash from Telstra shareholders if Telstra were to lose out on the NBN; endless courtroom litigation waged against the government by Telstra (again, if it were to lose); regulatory guidelines such as operational or structural separation placed upon Telstra (if it were to win) and the consequences of such if adequate competition guidelines aren’t included; implications from the likes of Optus, Terria and other constituents (if they were to lose), but most importantly and above all other implications – whats best for the Australian people and Australia’s future!

One thing is certain though, no matter which way the decision goes…. it’s time for Kev and Steve to stand up and get their hands dirty. Telstra for the win in my opinion.

The network would use VDSL2 technology to provide download speeds of 25-50 megabits per second (Mbps) to 65-75 percent of households it reached and speeds of 12-20Mbps to the remainder. Telstra could start building the network next year, but gave no completion date.

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** Updated ** Telstra ‘Booted’ from NBN Process - Tuesday 16th December 2008

As at 15th December 2008, Telstra has been officially ‘rejected’ from the $4.7 billion NBN process by the Australian Federal Government. Sighting a technicality in Telstra’s Broadband Network proposal, Communication’s Minister ‘Senator Conroy’, in a recommendation passed on by the expert panel, stated that Telstra had been rejected on the grounds that it failed to submit a mandatory element of the proposal surrounding a small to medium business plan. 

Sol Trujillo and Telstra appeared to be walking a tight rope right from the NBN inset by submitting a non-compliant bid which entailed a 12 page document only, whilst competing entities were believed to have submitted comprehensive proposals that incorprated 1,000+ detailed pages.

Calling Telstra’s Bluff, the Australian Government has now sent out a loud and clear message by dumping Telstra. This action has essentially displayed a show of strength which indicates the NBN process will not be compromised by parties seeking to hold the Government at ransom.

Telstra’s motives may have been driven by the shareholders best interests, or so they keep saying, however on the flip side it could also be clearly interpreted as an arrogant and somewhat ignorant mistake that has grossly underestimated the Government’s integrity and could cost them dearly. Of course the Telco has their shareholders to consider, but breaking the rules is breaking the rules and above all and foremost, the Government has the entire population of Australia to consider, and has acted accordingly.

As an initial result, Telstra now sees it shares plummeting to their lowest point since entering the ASX in 1997. They also have to explain their actions to their shareholders which has already seen billions of dollars wiped from share pricing. The Government meanwhile, without Telstra on board, have a NBN selection process that will now be perceived as a ‘fair’ and ‘equal’ platform that will offer an ‘open access’ environment which will encourage competition; provide innovation and growth potential through regulatory guidelines; and a future broadband network that should benefit both consumer and business alike.

So what now for Telstra?

The wounded incumbent will now have to consider contingencies as a result of being ‘dumped’. Some say they will try and re-enter the NBN process and negotiate with the Government. The problem here is that it could be too late, and that other bidders will see this approach as a ‘breach’ of guidelines and ‘unfair’.  Either way, litigation could be imminent in a race with such a high purse.

To even contemplate Telstra laying down without a fight is absurd. If they decide not to pursue legal proceedings, they may in fact build their own network as an alternative, or should I say ‘upgrade’ their existing network. Telstra have got the finance, firepower and experience to scale up their network so that it’s faster and made available way way before any future new national broadband network is built. One mustn’t forget all their ongoing technology research and testing that they continuously conduct. Using Wireless technology and as close as early next year, Telstra can roll out robust high speed broadband that can reach 21Mbps for rural areas, and between 50-100Mbps with VDSL2 and Hybrid Fibre Cable technology in maor metropolitan regions. Funnily enough, the latter of these broadband speeds will easily surpass the 12Mbps minimum requirement set by the Government on the NBN process too.

Don’t worry about Telstra folks, they are far from out of the race, regardless of what you, me or anyone else thinks.

With some Telcos already marketing VDSL2 roll outs, it’s only a matter of time until we witness the emergence of VDSL2 plans, VDSL2 speeds and further VDSL2 providers offering respective services. Australia’s two leading Telecommunication Operators, Optus and Telstra, are also conducting their own research and tests on prospective Broadband technologies such as VDSL2 (very fast digital subscriber line) and BPL (Broadband over Power Lines), the latter being considered as inappropriate at this point in time.

VDSL2 on the other hand is an upgradable DSL transmission technology which has superseded ADSL2+ and one that can also make use of the current copper line infrastructure. Visiting Ericsson telecommunication executive ‘Martin Mellor’ suggests that there’s alot to like about VDSL2 as new technologies will be able to take advantage of the existing copper lines and states that Ericsson’s latest dynamic spectrum management technology could theoretically increase maximum VDSL2+ speeds to 250 megabits (250Mbps) when it becomes available in two or three years time.

It’s becoming more and more likely from all the relevant information surfacing on VDSL2 that this type of Broadband technology will in fact become the preferred technology for delivering Broadband Internet over the new proposed national network. I would be very surprised if ISP’s that I previously mentioned were not particpating in VDSL2 tests and that this type of technology be overlooked. The question now is, not about which type of Broadband technology will be used such as FTTN, FTTH, WiMAX or VDSL2, it’s who will win the NBN bid and manage the new national broadband network.

“We think VDSL2 [transmission technology] is a great step forward from ADSL2+ but we don’t think that’s the end of the life for copper,” said Mr Mellor, who visited Australia last week. “There’s too much copper buried in the ground, and operators want to make that sweat, and there’s always new technologies that are looking to take advantage of that.”

Excerpt: Place for copper in network  

Very high speed digital subscriber line, otherwise known as VDSL2, has been touted as the broadband technology type that will be used by the winning tender for the new national broadband network.

VDSL2 is capable of broadband speeds in excess of 100Mbps and similar to it’s predecessor ADSL, will drop off over short distances. One exciting prospect of VDSL2 is the symmetrical rate that it offers which would make it highly sort after by peer-to-peer enthusiasts and the business sector alike.

With some ISPs either currently marketing VDSL2 as their next upcoming broadband product to be released, or conducting extensive research and testing, VDSL2 appears to be in the box seat as the technology type to be used for the upcoming NBN….. but by whom?

Read more about VDSL2 Broadband at Wikipedia

It appears that ‘interference’ is the underlying contributor which impairs Broadband speeds using DSL technologies. Although this type of complication has been cleaned up within ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies, interference is still dominant.

In a follow up to a recent article on Broadband Guide, further information has been produced supporting a research by Dr John Papandriopoulos that states DSL Broadband speeds can potentially break the 100Mbit barrier using a variation of DSL technology referred to as VDSL. Depending on further research and development, it could be likely that we may witness the new VDSL technology hit the scene over the next 3 to 4 years.

From a consumer’s point of view, the news gets better as aside from network upgrades, it appears that firmware upgrades for you’re current modem/routers or relatively inexpensive new modem/routers may be all thats required to use the new technology. VDSL Broadband is certainly a topic that we’ll be keeping a watchful eye upon in the future, especially if 100Mbps+ Broadband speeds can be produced.

“Typical broadband in Australia is around 1.5MB/sec for ADSL1 and anywhere up to 24MB/sec for ADSL2+ connections. We’re looking at increasing those rates up to about 100mbs per second by managing the interference between the lines” he said.

What Dr John’s breakthrough does is reduce interference on copper telephone lines to the extent that you can run VDSL lines on them. “What we’re doing with newer versions of DSL such as VDSL and VDSL2 is employing technology to widen the broadband further, the trouble with doing that is you really need to manage the interference, which is what the research has focused on” Dr John said.

Read the entire article at IDM.net.au