[LINK] Telstra ultimatum on fibre

[Richard Chirgwin]

Picking off some bits and pieces of this discussion...

Chris Maltby wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 12, 2007 at 10:58:57AM +1000, Stewart Fist wrote:
>   
>> I think your friend is right about being able to share the use of dark
>> fibres with no real problems (although spare fibres are there for a reason
>> generally), but the nodes are different
>>
>> They require racks, cards, electronics and electricity.
>>     
>
> That was my understanding too - but apparently these devices are now not
> much bigger than a paperback novel. Presumbably the main reason for the
> dark glass is that it costs almost nothing to install extra and it may
> be useful for later expansion - but my understanding is that the usable
> bandwidth per fibre keeps getting better so the need for additional fibres
> to meet growth in demand diminishes.
>   
There are a few varieties of mini-DSLAM, and yes, "paperback novel" is 
about the size.  Internode was using them - perhaps still is - to 
install in street nodes.

I certainly don't see why you couldn't use wavelengths as the means to 
share fibre... of course, you would also need a WDM unit at the node, 
but that doesn't seem impossible.

Electricity is also available at the nodes, if the equipment is able to 
use 48V dc. I wonder how much power consumption at node level is 
feasible and efficient?
>> The casual remark that "node boxes could be made a little bigger" begs the
>> question as to who would want to make them bigger, and who would pay for
>> them to be made bigger.
>>     
>
> Those words were my addition - the report I heard was that there is room
> within the proposed Telstra nodes for additional mux cards. But these things
> would be made/supplied in sufficient quantity to allow minor specification
> changes for little or no cost - much less than the cost of a duplicate FTTN
> network.
>
>   
>> And when something went wrong, who would be responsible for fixing the
>> problem.  Would each carrier have his own power supply, power feed, rack,
>> etc. Would each system of electronics be entirely isolated from the others?
>>     
>
> Good question. How does it work in existing exchanges?
>   
Power comes from Telstra now; move it out to the node, and power would 
still have to come from Telstra.

RC
>> The only system that makes any sense at all -- and this has now been
>> apparent for twenty years or more -- is for there to be structural
>> separation between the cables/nodes and the services.
>>
>>  Anything less than this will just leave a legacy of future problems until
>> structural separation is finally achieved at much greater social and
>> financial cost than making the changes today.
>>
>> It seems to me that there are two ways we can achieve this, if the federal
>> government (of either colour) isn't prepared to bite the bullet.
>>
>> Either the State of the Local governments can take control of the ducting
>> and introduce their own fibre -- or Telstra will divest itself of the
>> infrastructure as an independent company, which will then be strictly
>> regulated to produce reasonable profits (as happened in the USA) and with
>> total prohibition on it providing competitive services.
>>
>> Any attempt to just share ducting, fibres, nodes, exchanges, etc. just
>> delays the onset of problems.
>>     
>
> I couldn't agree more - but we seem to have a habit in this country of
> avoiding the obvious solution when it cuts across the plans of powerful
> vested interests. Those interests influence both major parties when in
> government.
>
>   
>> The idea of two groups, each building their own network, just duplicates the
>> problems -- in what is a small-population country which can't afford this
>> double cost (which, on past experience we know will surely happen), or the
>> potential for dual standards.
>>     
>
> Absolutely, but the same logic applied when the HFC pay TV networks were rolled
> out, and look what happened then. Why should we be more hopeful that common
> sense will prevail this time? Maybe I'm just cynical...
>
> Chris
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