[LINK] National Broadband Network - except it's not national.

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

I'm confused. I thought the National Broadband Network would be 
national. Silly me.

Taken from the document at
http://resources.news.com.au/files/2010/05/06/1225863/153247-nbn-implementation-study-pdf.pdf

Page 27, section 1.3.1
<extract>

As described in Section 1.2 NBN Co's operations should be confined to 
those areas where the market has not delivered a competitive outcome on 
its own - this principle should also apply to NBN Co's participation in 
backhaul. Commercial operators like Optus, Nextgen Networks, Pip 
Networks and Telstra have created competitive backhaul markets on 
high-traffic routes. NBN Co should not overbuild these links for the 
purpose of creating a contiguous national network. In the absence of 
market failure, there is no commercial rationale for NBN Co to duplicate 
this investment and duplication would be harmful to competition and 
industry investment incentives.

</extract>

So the NBN is not "a contiguous national network". It's a collection of 
regional hubs connected to access points (homes and business) with 
backhaul to provide connectivity where it has not been commercially 
viable. (see page 29, Exhibit 1-7)

No wonder it's predicted that it will cost less than previously estimated.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au