[LINK] the BBN bid article - who is Kevin Morgan?

[Tom Koltai]

-----Original Message-----
From: link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au
[mailto:link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Jan Whitaker
Sent: Thursday, 27 November 2008 8:59 AM
To: link at anu.edu.au
Subject: [LINK] the BBN bid article - who is Kevin Morgan?

<snip>
>I guess the decision of the monopoly ownership of the copper is 
>coming home to roost. Of course, Morgan could be wrong. Copper may 
>not be the last km delivery means. Why not wireless? I'm not sure of 
>the limitations on frequency usage for such speeds. Then again, since 
>Optus is the tech company involved, what *did* happen to all those 
>kms of cable networks in the ground from the old TV service?
<snip>

In 1996, only two people turned up to give evidence at the senate
committtee hearings on ownership of the local loop. Yes Im afraid I was
one of them and the other was Stewart Fist.

Optus categorically denied having an interest in the copper as their
"partners" Cable and Wireeless had assured them that the hybrid
fibre/coax solution would suit all applications including telephony and
high speed broadband for all time to come. . Of course at the time, the
Federal Government was eyeing the plum that T1 (Telstra Sell-off) would
add to the national coffers so it quickly brought the proceedings
(Senate Committee) to an end and said that that everything was fair if
Telstra kept the expensive to maintain copper as Optus had said they
were not interested. Bystanders might remember, that shortly after that
ruling, the Optus CEO became the Telstra CEO.

[Incidently, the Cow (CPE Frame) solution utuilised by Optus has ensured
that the coax network is at max capacity in most locations - and of
course the anti copmpetitive agreement bwtweeen Optus and Telstra for
alternative streets has meant that that there is no real competitive
reason for optus to update their network.] 
(Where is the ACCC when you need them ?)

The interconnect between Optus and Telstra was mandated at that time to
E1's and chargeable multiples thereof - mainly because Testra were using
switches that only had capacity for 2 E1 ports per Card and only 4 cards
per Switch. - that equals 8 x E1 at 32 channels per E1 AND Telstra used
one 64Kb ISDN channel for each Mobile Call - which only required 8.2Kb
and not 64 kb.). Optus mobile phone users (or callers to) will remember
the late nineties as being a time when "All circuits to the Network you
are calling are busy - Please try again later". Telstra might have added
a little extra to their message "We have created a bottleneck so you
cant get through - get a Mobilenet Phone" but for some reason they
didn't.

As to Wireless, unfortunately the 3.6Ghz spectrum went to Unwired -
which for a few years looked as if it was really going to provide a
local loop alternative. It was recentely purchased by Seven to add to
its TIVO distribution to enable broadband delivery of content direct to
the TIVO. Unfortunately, I think the seven might have blinkers on this
regard - one can only hope that are planning a wholesale incursion into
theLocal Loop Broadband market - but I fear not. There does not seem to
be an additional infrastructure added to the unwired base stations in
Sydney and Melbourne so scratch that starter.

That leaves fibre to the home. The mathematics equals 1400 per
household. (Koltai, Alcatel. 1997) So probably a biyt higher now. This
compares favourable with the cost of CPE and Exchange based swiching
equipment to deliver ADSL2. On that basis, the federal Government have
to revisit fibre to the home and give Australia the opportunity to join
other nations who have elected not to stiffle commerce by providing real
bandwidth to their populace. 

I am truly hoping that the Rudd Government will see the inadequacies and
financial motivations of past regimes and decide to give Australia a
Real Legacy - Fibre to the Home - Even if it only did the CBD to start
in each state, and even then only the low hanging fruit - i.e.:
Apartment blocks - it would ensure that a third of Australias student
population had FAST internet access. (And no I no longer live in the
CBD).

A little is better than none - and gives future Governments something to
build on. Each one will be able to claim the credit - we did "This bit".

Tom