[LINK] Anticipated service life of fibre

[Tom Worthington]

On 10/04/16 13:25, David Boxall wrote:

>... Sadly, that link no longer works. ...

I found the document in the Internet Archive:

"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."

Mr Mike Quigley, Chief Executive Officer, NBN Co Limited, evidence on 
page 173 the SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE 
ESTIMATES, 19 OCTOBER 2010: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20110403102958/http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S13299.pdf#page=134



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