[LINK] The 4013 urban premises to receive NBN satellite

[David Boxall]

<https://www.itnews.com.au/news/the-4013-urban-premises-to-receive-nbn-satellite-456437>
> Exclusive: City areas shunted onto Sky Muster.
>
> More than 4000 premises in “urban” electorates across Australia are 
> being offered Sky Muster satellite services to connect to the national 
> broadband network.
>
> The numbers come from a fresh dump of NBN rollout data by federal 
> electorate that was released this week under freedom of information.
>
> While most of the data is old – pre-dating the rollout information 
> available in iTnews’ reconstructed three-year NBN plan - the new 
> dataset contains one striking feature: a rare, granular breakdown of 
> NBN Co’s satellite numbers.
>
> NBN Co has come under fire in recent months for refusing to disclose 
> how many ADSL users will be transitioned to satellite-only broadband 
> under the NBN.
>
> iTnews earlier this month published an investigation revealing 62 
> towns promised fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) that had been switched to the 
> fixed wireless footprint instead.
>
> The number of urban users being put into the Sky Muster footprint has 
> until now been difficult to calculate.
>
> However, the electorate numbers show that 4013 premises in electorates 
> the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) classes as “urban” are 
> “eligible for [the] Sky Muster service”.
>
> While 4013 is a small number – representing only 1 percent of the 
> 400,000 premises to be covered by Sky Muster – the use of satellite in 
> city areas challenges the way the service has been positioned.
>
> “Sky Muster is designed to serve more than 400,000 premises in some of 
> the most remote and isolated parts of Australia and islands such as 
> Norfolk, Christmas, Cocos and Lord Howe,” NBN Co said in late 2015.
>
> “Many of these Australians have no broadband options other than 
> satellite.”
>
> According to the electorate data, Perth urban electorates have the 
> most premises eligible for Sky Muster at 1416.
>
> They are followed by Melbourne urban electorates where 746 premises 
> are eligible, and Sydney "urban" electorates where 548 premises are to 
> be offered only satellite broadband.
>
> However, the Sydney "urban" numbers include Lord Howe Island which is 
> part of the electorate of 'Sydney'.
>
> As with other premises being shunted out of the fixed line footprint, 
> cost is likely to be one of the main factors.
>
> Network design could also play a role; FTTN, for example, typically 
> works over a shorter copper cable length than ADSL, which means it is 
> feasible - though unconfirmed - that homes in metro areas that are too 
> far from a node could be orphaned and left with satellite.
>
> An NBN Co spokesperson said the company took into account "a range of 
> different factors into account when designing the NBN network."
>
> "The cost and time of providing connections to individual premises has 
> to be taken into account," the spokesperson said.
>
> "Unfortunately there will be a small number of properties in urban 
> areas where providing a fixed or fixed wireless connection will 
> require significant expenditure and take a long time to provide a 
> connection.
>
> "On these occasions we will provide these premises with an NBN 
> satellite service."
>
> One thing to note is that the proportion of urban premises set to 
> receive satellite is largely unchanged between the interim and 
> long-term satellite services.
>
> The interim satellite service (ISS) had 376 active connections from 
> premises in urban electorates as at the 2013 federal election – 
> slightly under 1 percent of its user base.
>
> What the electorate data does not reveal is how many of those eligible 
> for Sky Muster services in urban areas have actually taken them up, 
> given the availability of faster, more reliable alternatives such as 4G.
There's a table at the bottom of the article, giving a breakdown by 
electorate.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  For when the One Great Scorer comes
                                 |  To mark against your name,
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  He writes-not that you won or lost-
                                 |  But how you played the game.
                                                       --Grantland Rice