[LINK] Thousands to be stuck in NBN 'limbo'

[David Boxall]

> Telstra is proving reluctant to install copper networks in smaller new housing estates where the company retains a universal service obligation (USO) to provide only basic telephone services.
They're still laying copper? Why?

<http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_2483>
> The universal service obligation (USO) is the obligation placed on universal service providers (USPs) to ensure that standard telephone services, payphones and prescribed carriage services are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business.
>
> A separate obligation related to the USO is the digital data service obligation (DDSO) and the special DDSO (SDDSO). The DDSO is the obligation placed on a digital data service provider to ensure that digital data services are accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business. The SDDSO applies to customers unable to receive service under the general DDSO because they are not close enough to the necessary network infrastructure.
>
> USPs and digital data service providers (DDSPs) are subsidised for providing these services. Telstra is currently the sole USP and DDSP.

<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/26/3200127.htm>
By Geoff Thompson, ABC Online Investigative Unit

Thousands of Australians - many of them in regional areas - can expect 
years of worse, rather than better, internet services as the National 
Broadband Network (NBN) rolls out across the country.

A senior telecommunications industry executive, who does not wish to be 
named, says he expects "tens of thousands of Australians" to fall into a 
"limbo" of "interim solutions" each year as Telstra's copper network is 
replaced with optic fibre.

This is because Telstra is proving reluctant to install copper networks 
in smaller new housing estates where the company retains a universal 
service obligation (USO) to provide only basic telephone services.

Instead of installing copper in housing estates of fewer than 100 
houses, Telstra is often providing residents with wireless phones that 
are unable to connect to the internet.

Telstra says only 200 such phones have so far been issued to premises 
around Australia, but telecommunications industry insiders say that 
number could increase to include tens of thousands of customers each 
year as more small new estates are developed in regional areas.

Since January 1 the government monopoly building the NBN, NBN Co, has 
become the "provider of last resort" of optic-fibre cable networks to 
all new housing developments of more than 100 premises.

This means that once developers dig the "pit and pipe" - the trenches 
and infrastructure for telecommunications systems - they can either 
employ contractors to lay optic fibre which is NBN-ready, or ask NBN Co 
to the lay optic-fibre cables.

NBN Co says it plans to connect 250,000 such new premises by June 2013.

However, in estates of fewer than 100 houses, Telstra retains the USO to 
provide basic telephone services.

In newly developed suburban and regional areas, where copper networks 
are not already prevalent, Telstra is proving reluctant to install 
copper, knowing it will eventually be ripped out and replaced by NBN 
Co's optic fibre.

On hold

Alec Downs moved into a new house in Berwick in suburban Melbourne last 
December. Telstra told him it was not laying any more copper, but to 
meet its universal service obligation, it gave him an interim wireless 
phone that cannot deliver internet.

Instead he has had to buy a wireless 'dongle' with very patchy 
reception, with no hope of a landline internet connection in the near 
future.

"Telstra told me that I can't get a copper connection so I have to stay 
on the interim phone until the National Broadband Network comes 
through," Mr Downs told the ABC News Online Investigative Unit.

"The NBN is set to roll out over a number of years, so I could be in 
this situation for two years or five years or more.

"I'm in the middle of suburban Melbourne and I was hoping to have full 
normal internet connections and do all the things people do, but I found 
myself in a kind of black spot with very limited access."

Mr Downs says his access to the internet is getting worse rather than 
better as he waits for the NBN roll out in his area.

"Oh, most definitely ... I've gone from a phone connection with ADSL to 
having just a wireless phone and unable to access internet in the same way."

In response to enquiries on this issue, the Department of Broadband, 
Communications and the Digital Economy has told the ABC: "Telstra is 
responsible as provider of last resort for infrastructure and services 
in new infill estates of fewer than 100 houses, pending NBN Co being 
ready to provide a fibre service in the area.

"Telstra will generally provide copper infrastructure. However, it can 
choose to provide fibre, and in some limited circumstances, for example 
because of the short timeframe between construction and the rollout of 
fibre, Telstra may provide high-quality wireless services as an interim 
solution."

The department says it expects only a small percentage of the 1.9 
million new premises expected to be built over the period of the NBN 
roll-out to be in smaller new estates in which interim solutions are 
necessary.

The Urban Development Institute of Australia's chief executive, Stephen 
Albin, says he expects developers will increasingly work together to 
ensure new projects have more than 100 premises and will therefore be 
eligible for fibre-optic installation by NBN Co.

"There's more likelihood of having developments of less than 100 in 
regional areas than you actually have in the major capital cities, so 
the incidence of some of these issues may be felt more in regional 
areas", Mr Albin said.

"You could also find that NBN does something to fix this up, but from 
what we can see at the moment, it's the lots under 100 that will be in 
the most difficulty."

Temporary fix

Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton says the wireless service is an 
interim measure.

"It's a temporary measure to ensure customers in this situation have 
access to a phone service while the necessary works are completed to 
provide a permanent service," he said.

"Telstra may provide high-quality wireless services as an interim 
solution. However, our preference is to deploy fixed infrastructure in 
new estates wherever it is feasible to do so."

The problem is that it is up to Telstra's discretion to decide whether 
fixed infrastructure in new estates is feasible.

With Telstra's copper network being replaced by NBN Co's fibre-optic 
cables, the company has little commercial incentive to install new 
copper networks in remote new estates far from existing infrastructure.

The experience of 'Dave', who lives near Canningvale in Western 
Australia and asked that the ABC not use his real name, suggests Telstra 
is reluctant to lay copper unless it comes under political pressure.

"When I contacted (Telstra) they basically told me that sorry, we don't 
have any copper line going through your new estate and there are no 
plans for Telstra to invest in any copper," he said.

"That's because NBN has got plans to put fibre through all this area.

"I contacted NBN; NBN told me that it's going to take anywhere between 
six and eight years and they told me that it's not actually even planned 
in the initial phases, so it could be anything between six and eight years."

'Dave' says Telstra's attitude slowly changed when he enlisted the help 
of his local MP and contacted the office of Communications Minister 
Stephen Conroy.

Eventually Telstra rolled out copper to all the new premises in his 
housing estate.

"It was not just me ... I was just facing the issue first because I was 
the first person to move into the new release. There were about 100 
houses that were going to be in the same boat a little bit later on," he 
said.

Julia Gillard's Government secured power after last year's election with 
the support of key independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, 
reportedly based on their belief that the NBN would close the digital 
divide between urban and regional Australia.

But for many regional Australians who will be forced into "interim 
solutions", access to quality internet services may actually get worse 
before it gets better.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  Drink no longer water,
                                |  but use a little wine
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  for thy stomach's sake ...
                                |            King James Bible
                                |              1 Timothy 5:23