[LINK] itNews: 'TransACT to continue FTTN VDSL2 Upgrade'

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Hi Roger,

If you are not covered by NBN Cable then my understanding is that your
alternative to your ADSL is NBNCo Terrestrial Fixed Wireless. I am guessing 
you are not so remote, that you will have to rely on satellite.

see:
<http://www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/about-the-nbn/fibre-wireless-satellite.html>

  The alternative is to move to a more densely populated are or encourage
more people to move to your neighbourhood.

Marghanita
Roger Clarke wrote:
> [This morning's itNews report, below, is of particular interest to 
> Canberrans, but also more generally.]
> 
> [Several years back, I wrote to the TransACT CEO, Ivan Slavich, 
> indicating that a regional telco needs to provide service to every 
> location within its region.  Slavich disagreed.  (Well, he was a bit 
> more scathing than that).
> 
> [I'll try again now, hoping that the exemption that's been granted to 
> the company imposes a Universal Service Obligation within the area. 
> After all, it has to mean that the area will have the lowest possible 
> priority for NBNCo.  So if there's no USO-like condition, I'm stuck 
> with ADSL2+ for the foreseeable future, and can forget about making 
> my next TV IPTV-capable.
> 
> [I have no idea how many people in Canberra don't have access to 
> TransACT.  All I know is that they stuffed up the config calculations 
> when they did my neck of the woods, and it's not available to the 
> last couple of houses on the branch that I'm on.]
> 
> [Fortunately for me, I use almost no video anyway.  But as a one-time 
> lobbyist for continued ACT Government support for the TransACT 
> project, it's ironic and annoying that I missed out.
> 
> [Fortunately, even 4km from the exchange, ADSL2+ works pretty well: 
> This morning's test says 4.37 Mbps / 546 KB/s - and consistent too. 
> Commiserations to the country cousins on the list ...]
> 
> 
> TransACT secures Canberra upgrade path
> James Hutchinson
> Apr 13, 2012 6:59 AM (54 minutes ago)
> http://www.itnews.com.au/News/296828,transact-secures-canberra-upgrade-path.aspx
> 
> Cherry-picking exemption granted.
> 
> iiNet subsidiary TransACT has agreed to complete the long-running 
> upgrade of its fibre-to-the-node network in Canberra thanks to an 
> exemption to NBN cherry-picking legislation granted by the Federal 
> Government.
> 
> The service provider, bought last year by iiNet for $60 million, had 
> begun an upgrade of the 12-year-old network in Canberra in March 2009 
> to VDSL2, with promises of speed boosts to 60 Mbps on the downlink.
> 
> The Federal Government's anti cherry-picking legislation, passed last 
> year, prevented areas without the network upgrade from receiving the 
> speed boosts due to potential competition with the National Broadband 
> Network.
> 
> The legislation required networks built or significantly upgraded 
> after January 2011 and providing speeds of at least 25 Mbps to be 
> operated on a wholesale-only basis.
> 
> Under an exemption to the legislation, TransACT would be able to 
> continue upgrading the network to VDSL2 while remaining vertically 
> integrated, provided it notify customers and government bodies of 
> significant changes to the network.
> 
> "We're extremely positive about it," TransACT chief executive Ivan 
> Slavich told iTnews.
> 
> "We've obviously spent a fair bit of time working to achieve that 
> outcome and I think it's a testament to the fact that we have 
> previously invested in those networks and have been effectively 
> delivering the kinds of services the Government has been wanting to 
> deliver via the NBN to customers for some time."
> 
> Though TransACT has been negotiating with the Federal Government over 
> exemptions for the past seven months, it appears an application 
> relating to the VDSL network only came in February this year.
> 
> New estate fibre
> 
> TransACT was simultaneously granted a similar exemption to construct 
> fibre-to-the-home networks in a new housing estate in the city's 
> south, where it is expects to pass 16,000 homes with the technology.
> 
> Slavich told iTnews the company had already passed 7000 premises and 
> connected 3000 with active services since construction began last 
> year in stage one of the estate.
> 
> [So they're sustaining and upgrading their existing FTTN services 
> across most of the city, and delivering FTTH/P in the new areas.]
> 
> Unlike its other existing networks, the FTTH network had not gained a 
> statutory exemption as it was not built before January 1 2011, when 
> the legislation came into effect.
> 
> However, because TransACT had signed contracts with the estate 
> developer before the legislation passed through Parliament, and the 
> "advanced nature" of construction, meant the exemption was allowed.
> 
> Under the agreement, TransACT will be required to provide an open 
> access Layer 3 wholesale service to third party service providers, a 
> product it already offers on the VDSL network.
> 
> The exemptions do not apply to TransACT's cable network in regional 
> Victoria, which had been upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0 technology but fell 
> outside of company plans for significant infrastructure upgrades.
> 
> Restricting expansion
> 
> Slavich said the company had continued to win business within the 
> one-kilometre radius of its existing network, as allowed under the 
> legislation, but acknowledged the cherry-picking rules restricted its 
> ability to significantly expand the networks.
> 
> "If we wanted to go to another [estate] in Geelong and build FTTP, I 
> think it would be unlikely for us to get an exemption via a 
> ministerial instrument," he said.
> 
> "The fundamental reason why is we'd have to separate our retail and 
> wholesale... the only way we'd do that is if we'd sold the network 
> business. Anything's possible in that space but it's not on the 
> market."
> 
> TransACT's concessions are the second set of exemptions provided by 
> communications minister Stephen Conroy to the anti cherry-picking 
> legislation.
> 
> A similar deal with Telstra saw the incumbent open 118 housing 
> estates under its Velocity program for wholesale access to third 
> party providers for the first time in exchange for the ability to 
> expand infrastructure in those areas beyond the one-kilometres radius 
> limit set out in the legislation.
> 
> The deal is expected to coerce wholesale price changes from Telstra 
> in those estates for the first time, under the exemption to take 
> effect this month.
> It is believed Telstra and TransACT were the only companies to apply 
> for an exemption.
> 
> Though backdated to the beginning of last year, the legislative 
> provisions and accompanying declarations from the competition 
> watchdog came into effect this week.
> 
> 


-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
Ramin Communications (Sydney)
Website: http://ramin.com.au
Phone:(+612) 0414-869202