[LINK] Re: ACCC competition notice to Telstra

[Howard Lowndes]

On Tue, 2004-03-23 at 10:55, David Lochrin wrote:
> At 07:28 PM 22-03-04 +1100, Howard Lowndes wrote:
> 
> >> But then again, if the ACCC had a clue, they would have forced 
> >> Telstra, Optus, TransACT, Neighborhood Cable et al to open up access to 
> >> their HFC networks instead of naffing about with paltry, obsolete DSL. One 
> >> wonders, in vain, if anyone in the incoming Labor government will be any 
> >> more competent than Alston or Williams. 
> >
> > I think after the initial rollout of HFC there developed a resistance to
> > further rollout on visual pollution grounds.  I know it was mooted for
> > Albury a few years ago but appears to have withered on the vine.
> >
> > I agree that DSL was obsolete when it got launched, but at least it gave
> > some coverage at reasonably low cost (to the telcos, that is).
> 
>    Surely the problem with HFC is that its design aim and primary purpose is to reticulate Pay-TV, not to provide Internet access.  From a customer point of view, I for one would not consider buying HFC Internet access if it came bundled with an unwanted Pay-TV service.
> 
>    Putting up two independent cable networks side by side must rank as one of the more brain-dead business-government outcomes in recent times, especially given the aesthetic barbarity of stringing one or both up on poles.  There certainly was an outcry at the time and, if I remember correctly, those responsible essentially gave the community the two-finger salute.  Serves them right the Pay-TV uptake is so low (:­)
I recall that some local council tried to charge rates on the air space
and won, initially.  Unfortunately the decision was reversed on appeal.

The problem with HFC as against DSL is that at the distribution end on
HFC the bandwidth is shared so the more subscribers on a circuit the
less individual bandwidth becomes available.  I know that many cable
users suffer this problem.

Added to which Optus refused to cable into strata titles.

> 
> ADL
> 
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-- 
Howard.
LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com>
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