[LINK] NBN Summary of Business Case was Re: NBN Co to build wireless network from late 2011

[Phillip Musumeci]

>
> Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:50:23 +1100
> From: Richard Chirgwin <rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au>
> Subject: Re: [LINK] NBN Summary of Business Case was Re: NBN Co to build
> wireless network from late 2011
>
> On 25/11/10 11:29 AM, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> > Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> > <snip>
> >> b. Backhaul is not more valuable than laying the local fibre.
> >> c. Telstra will not be NBN Co's only supplier of backhaul services.
> >>
> >> This needs to be accurately understood; I practically chew at the
> >> scenery when I hear another TV news story saying "NBN Co is buying
> >> Telstra's network".
>

Out in regional centres, some of us are also on the verge of inflicting
self-harm I suspect.

It is sickening to hear federal politicians (who probably have dual HFC
networks in their lovely Wentworth street) bleating lies about how a
broadband wholesaler is a nasty retail monopoly.  These guys actually
understand wholesale and retail hierarchies, and they obviously understand
concepts like natural monopolies as I don't see them campaigning to
duplicate rail lines, highways, power networks, water mains, etc. upon which
retailers and service providers compete.   My street in Cairns has zero
market-place provided cable TV networks, it has zero ADSL2 access, it has
monopoly retail priced ADSL1 (thou shalt have a landline via thy local rim
with money going to a legacy company), and in fact 3G is the only evidence
of competition we have.

It was decided very early that NBN Co would *not* build backhaul - this
> would compete with Telstra, Optus, AAPT, NextGen and others that own and
> operate backhaul. So NBN Co will rent  backhaul from existing owners.


In regional QLD, we've seen 2 mobile networks shut down for periods >half a
day when earth moving equipment "edited" back haul fibre links in the past
year or so. One network was broken for more than a day.  Given the capacity
of fibre (and the number of other existing east coast QLD fibre links), it
is market place insanity for customers when existing network operators
choose not to sell each other a fall back backhaul service to look after
customers.  So even our 3G market place is partially broken in the north.

The beauty of NBN choosing which existing infrastructure to use is that
existing owners of fibre are faced with a choice of contributing it into the
NBN where it earns them a return, keeping it for private use (assuming it is
financially viable), or ditching it.  Keeping single links without also
accessing the NBN backhaul is demonstrably not robust and it is difficult to
see the sense of ownership when the NBN has redundancy (network diagrams are
online) even to places like Weipa over 500km N-NW of Cairns.  I'd certainly
prefer a mobile/broadband/whatever retail product that uses the NBN with its
redundancy.  And the NBN should get good access prices from existing
infrastructure owners face with the "contribute it first or ditch it"
pressures.  There must be a lot of commercially sensitive aspects to
business plans at present.

Phillip Musumeci
"clinging to a 3G link in the bush, damn it..."

-- 
https://sites.google.com/site/pmusumeci/