[LINK] Hate to say it Malcs, but "we told you so"

[Andy Farkas]

On 03/12/2015 10:30, Janet Hawtin wrote:
> Hi
> What is the expected lifetime of the repaired copper v fibre to the
> premises?
>

Well, I typed in "expected lifetime of copper" into
duckduckgo and got as the first hit:

<http://www.nachi.org/life-expectancy.htm>

"ELECTRICAL    YEARS
Bare Copper    100+"

I then typed in "expected lifetime of fibre" and got:

"Quigley's response to senate Estimates on the life of fibre ...

Senator McEWEN—Just on the same issue, there are claims
made that fibre technology does not have a life long enough
to guarantee a return on investment. Can you make some
comment about that, Mr Quigley?

Mr Quigley—Yes, I have heard those. I have had the same
debates with some of the media, who simply, as I said before,
are not particularly interested in the facts on this issue. It
astonishes me, to be honest, given that we are seeing huge
increases worldwide in fibre deployments. Companies such as
AT&T, Verizon and DT, all throughout Asia, are all deploying
fibre. We speak to the manufacturers of fibre. They simply do
not know how long the fibre will last because they can see no
mechanism by which it would degrade—unlike copper, which
is metal and which is carrying current. There is a natural
tendency, then, to get levels of corrosion. This is glass. It is
inherently stable. It is strengthened. Clearly if somebody puts
a spade through it, as through a piece of copper, they will
break it. But there is no inherent reason why this fibre should
degrade over time. It is very, very stable. So there have been
lots of reports about a 12-year life. I do not know where this
data is coming from, but it certainly is not supported by the
evidence we see overseas and not supported by any of the
people who should know, who are the fibre manufacturers.

Senator BIRMINGHAM—So you cannot put a lifespan on it at all?

Mr Quigley—I could not, frankly. I cannot put a lifespan on it.
Some of the copper network, by the way, has been in the
ground for 50 to 60 years and is still providing service. It is
getting more and more expensive to maintain. It is very
difficult to put a lifespan on it. It would be at least 30 years."

<http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S13299.pdf>


-andyf