[LINK] Ireland calls for minimum Internet speeds of 30Mbps

[Paul Brooks]

On 1/09/2012 8:14 PM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> Like it or not, copper can also lower the deployment cost ... it´s
> much cheaper to leave the copper from the distribution cabinet (down
> here, on sidewalks every block or two), and install fibre to it, then
> use VHDSL and the existing copper installation to reach the homes....
> that is FTTC (fibre to the cabinet).
Only if you own the copper and the cabinet, and don't need to rent sidewalk space for
another cabinet nearby to hold the active equipment, provide power to second cabinet,
rent access to another organisation's distribution cabinet, and rent each copper pair
from said other organisation's cabinet to the homes - or expend legal costs in
obtaining permits or approvals to do all that.

By the time you add up all the monthly rental costs, plus the capital costs of the
second cabinet and associated electronics, and compare that to the up-front capital
cost of bypassing all the rental of someone else's infrastructure and running fibre
all the way to the home, spreading it over the 30 - 40 year lifespan with no monthly
rental costs, the comparison is somewhat less certain.

P.