[LINK] Inside Telstra's technical plans for the NBN

David Boxall david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au
Sat Dec 6 21:35:29 AEDT 2008


At 12:04 AM 6/12/2008, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> At 09:37 PM 5/12/2008, David Boxall wrote:
>>> "Do we have alternative network building plans in the event that we
>>> don't win? Yes," said Winn.
>> So Telstra can build the NBN without government funding? Let 'em go for it.
>
> It's the subscription tv overbuild again.

What hadn't occurred to me is that, in the event Telstra isn't engaged 
to build the NBN, then sets out to build a competing network, it will 
naturally cherry-pick.  That will distort the market for whoever builds 
the government-backed network.

How can that be prevented?  I presume Telcos are licensed, so perhaps a 
licence fee based on the percentage of the population within the 
network's coverage area.

I'll label that percentage P.  The target is 98%, so the fee should be 
based on the difference between the target and P: 98 - P.  Telstra has 
said that the cost of building the network rises exponentially as the 
percentage population coverage rises, so we'll use the difference as an 
exponent of a cash figure, say $100,000.
Licence fee = $100,000^(98 - P).  That should level the playing field 
between the telco who puts in the effort to cover the most people and 
the one who concentrates on the easiest pickings.

Getting anything of the sort done is another thing, of course.
 
-- 
David Boxall                    |  When a distinguished but elderly
                                |  scientist states that something is
                                |  possible, he is almost certainly
                                |  right. When he states that
                                |  something is impossible, he is
                                |  very probably wrong.
                                                   --Arthur C. Clarke
 



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