[LINK] NBN on its way to my basement

[Paul Brooks]

Tom Worthington wrote:
> Transact has stopped expanding its network in Canberra, partly as a 
> result of the cost (which the NBN funding could fix) and part because it 
> ran out of places the cable could be run easily (which the NBN could not 
> fix).
>
> The main fiber is buried, but the smaller cables were strung on the 
> power poles along the back fences of older suburbs. This made 
> installation easy, especially as the energy company owned the poles and 
> already had access. But newer suburbs have underground power, making 
> access more difficult.
>   
The irony of this is that the same ACTEW, when it ran the power cables 
underground and later ran the newer gas mains underground, apparently 
failed to run any extra conduits while they had the trench open. 
Consequently when TransACT came to pull their cables through the suburbs 
with underground uitilities expensive re-digging would have been required.

The lesson for the NBN is that access to existing ducts and pipes, 
whether belonging currently to Telstra or any other utility, road / rail 
authority, is gold.