[LINK] FTTP/FTTN

[Richard Chirgwin]

Let me think...

1. If Turnbull wants to get the fibre within 500-1000 meters of the home 
(which he has discussed publicly), there's an awful lot of active 
equipment required.

There are around 70,000 Telstra Distribution Areas in Australia - that 
is, 70k of those brown wiring pillars that are the last connection point 
between exchange and home. Taking fibre to 70,000 DAs is a much smaller 
job than taking fibre to 8 million premises - so he's right there.

However, that also means 70,000 (say) VDSL units at street level, each 
unit large enough to serve more than 100 premises, and street each unit 
will need power.

2. The criticism that FTTN is not automatically a pathway to FTTP comes 
from the numbers of premises served from a node. Short version: you have 
to change the topology of the network if you upgrade from FTTN nodes 
serving 100+ premises to GPON nodes serving 32 premises (or some other 
configuration, for that matter). In either case, as well as reworking 
the topology, you have to replace the active kit serving the FTTN topology.

3. Taking 1 and 2 into account, plus the constant maintenance required 
on the copper network, I suspect that the FTTN plan moves capex to opex. 
Is this a good idea? Without data, we can't assess that aspect - but we 
can say that the opex would end up in retailers' costs. Sure, the 
up-front is less; but in capex you're buying an asset, and in the case 
of fibre, it's an asset that costs less to maintain over the long term, 
uses less power, has a long depreciation life, and is more amenable to 
future upgrades without replacing physical infrastructure.

Cheers,
RC

On 19/04/12 11:04 PM, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> Opinions re this?
>
> Given that current polls indicate that the Liberals could win the
> next election, then, presumably, the NBN might become FTTN rather
> than FTTP?
>
> "Shadow Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has repeatedly
> expounded the benefits of an FTTN broadband network as opposed to
> a FTTP one as it would cost less and can be rolled out faster. He
> echoed this thought at the Communications Day Summit on Wednesday"
>
> Ramifications of a copper last mile?
>
> Cheers,
> Stephen
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
>