[LINK] Australia begs residents to accept free fiber connection

[Kim Holburn]

On 2010/Jul/31, at 10:47 AM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:

> In other headlines:
> Government shamefully fails to pass enabling legislation for the NBN
> while in caretaker mode

Government failed to notice the need to pass enabling legislation for  
NBN

There FTFY

Actually, which government would need to pass this?  Federal state or  
local?


>
> and
>
> Ars Technica can't be bothered with research
>
> RC
>
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/07/australia-begs-residents-to-accept-free-fiber-connection.ars
>>
>>
>>> Australia begs residents to accept free fiber connection
>>>
>>
>>
>>> If your government had decided to install a national, open-access
>>> fiber-to-the-home network to 93 percent of all residents, if the
>>> installation was free, and if the fiber hookup had no effect on your
>>> existing phone or cable service and committed you to nothing...
>>> wouldn't you take it?
>>>
>>> Not if you live in Tasmania, where the Australian government's
>>> ambitious new National Broadband Network is getting underway with
>>> its first fiber deployments. The government-created NBN Co. has the
>>> right to dig up streets and trench along rights-of-way, but to
>>> install that "last-mile" connection to a home or apartment it needs
>>> permission—and Tasmanians have been slow to offer it.
>>>
>>> According to local news accounts, only half of the homes and
>>> business in the first dig zone have given permission to access their
>>> property. That led to this week's rather pathetic press release from
>>> NBN Co. in which the CEO basically begged "residents and businesses
>>> within the Willunga and Kiama First Release Sites to sign up."
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>> But people's reluctance to sign consent forms could add serious
>>> costs and delays to the entire project. And if everyone will be
>>> hooked up eventually, why not just make the fiber installations
>>> mandatory now?
>>>
>>> That's the direction in which Australia is moving. Conroy and the
>>> Tasmanian Premier, David Bartlett, are now both talking about ways
>>> to shift to an "opt-out" model in which the NBN Co. has the right to
>>> install on your property unless you explicitly object.
>>>
>>> Opposition figures in Tasmania have been pushing the idea for more
>>> than a month. "I am sure there would be plenty of people that would
>>> not want the government rolling up onto their property and
>>> installing fibre without permission," said MP Michael Ferguson.
>>> "Nonetheless it would be an enormous cost to the community if we
>>> only do get half of our homes connected to the fibre."
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link

-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request