[LINK] The PLAN, and broadband speeds?

[Stewart Fist]

Stephen writes
> 
> Yes, and living in a tiny town way past 50kms from a major burg, one
> can attest that our townsfolk here would be astonished if we got fibre.
> 
> We have just 3 reliable TV channels, (not the ABC), two radio stations
> without static, and, ADSL arrived at our local exchange about a month
> ago, for this Victorian village four hours train from Melbourne. Looxury!

With reference to fibre, surely it depends on whether "50kms past a major
burg" is on the way to another major burg, or whether it is at the end of
the line ... say, on the edge of the Simpson Desert.

And also on whether the houses in your 'tiny town' are clustered or
distributed.   Dispersal is more a factor here than distance.


If you are at the end of the line 50ksm past the last major burg, then
surely the main point is that the radio spectrum in this area must be
totally under-whelmed.

If that is so, then at least 30 - 40 of the available 7MHz analog TV
channels could be released immediately for digital -- for interactive or
broadcast use.  

For instance, it is difficult to understand why, in Alice Springs in the
middle of nowhee, they would bother adhering to a spectrum plan which was
designed for B&W analog television transmission in central Europe.

When spectrum management came to Australia they only slightly modified the
European and American plans for Australian conditions -- by excising some of
the most useful UHF channels and giving them to defense (where Australia so
desperately need so much more spectrum than the Americans or the Europeans
... I don't think).

The idea of needing a single spectrum plan for the whole world -- or even
for the whole of the geographic expanse of Australia -- only makes sense
with the old Medium and Short Wave frequencies where interference can occur
over distances more than 100km.

For every radio signal above that frequency where we are beginning to get
into line-of-sight (and especially with digital) when range is measured in
10s of kilometres at the most, they can afford to re-define the spectrum to
suit the local needs.

The only thing they need to take into account, of course, is the need to be
able to use low-cost standardised equipment.

I think fibre will go out to 50kms from major burgs, for the simple reason
that the glass itself is cheap and getting cheaper, and it doesn't get
buggered up when lightning strikes.

When the major part of the costs of service provision is in the terminal
equipment rather than the fibre itself ... and when the use of glass saves
its installation cost in terms of the long-term maintenance ... then fibre
will go everywhere.

But in the interim, we should look to using the massive amounts of UHF and
VHF (and SHF) that lie fallow in Australia, to service the more remote parts
of the continent -- and not be bound by stupid spectrum rules established by
the Yanks and Europeans 50 years ago.


-- 
Stewart Fist, writer, journalist, film-maker
70 Middle Harbour Road, LINDFIELD, 2070, NSW, Australia
Ph +61 (2) 9416 7458