Tisme
Apathetic at Best
- Joined
- 27 August 2014
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Also, they won't even come out and check a fault if you don't have an 'approved' modem,
The difference between the cost of using FttDP and fibre to the node (FttN) now sits at around the AU$400 mark, Morrow told the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network on Tuesday.
"That has opened so many more opportunities; we see a couple of hundred thousand homes that would otherwise be getting FttN or fixed wireless that this now has passed over and broken over into the faster, cheaper driver that we have," he told the committee.
"That cost, because of that cost difference, still has yet to be cheaper than FttN ... is yet to reach that point to be quicker and cheaper.
"Therefore, we are steady-state on the technology mix, this is one that is increasing in terms of the volume."
Morrow said he could see the NBN board, Coalition government, and Labor opposition all backing FttDP as the costs continue to fall in the future.
"We want it," he said. "If those prices can continue to come down, and [we] can continue to find ways to shave off more weeks, more months of that construction build, then we will move into and use this technology over that of FttN.".
Morrow touted that the average speed on FttN connections sits at 83Mbps down and 36Mbps up. However, in the morning, NBN said that those numbers also included fibre-to-the-basement (FttB) users.
In the afternoon, NBN revealed the average speed on its FttN connections is 76Mbps down and 34Mbps up, and for FttB customers the average speeds are 102Mbps down and 43Mbps up.
It would help if journalists such as the above reconciled that leaked Scale-the-Deployment-Program document with other information publically available to understand it in context.
Firstly, the leaked report doesn't cover the full FTTN rollout and secondly, the targets in that report do not match publically made rollout forecasts. They are more aggressive suggesting a contingency between the two for issues that may (and obviously do) arise.
As for how things are actually going with the brownfields fixed line rollout relative to the corporate plan from last year, the weekly rollout updates will be the figures to watch.
In that, 1,580k brownfields are forecast to be ready for service (RFS) by June 30 this year. That consists of 1080k FTTP and 500k FTTN. As at March 3, that sits at 1,263k and thus needs to progress at an average rate of ~19k per week over the remaining 17 weeks to June 30 to meet the target. The average over the past 5 weeks has been ~33k.
Note in the above that NBN now include FTTB as a subset of FTTN.
I know you will ask us about this alleged nbn document that talks about FTTN designs being behind so let me clarify the facts on this too. It is a fact that the volume flowing through our FTTN design process was partly held up due to sub-optimal processes in our work with the many different power companies - each with their own different and unique process. We have since resolved the major bottleneck but it was never an issue of the nbn roll out being off track and let me explain why.
First, the document in question only refers to one program that does not represent the entire FTTN build.
Second, depending on the technology, there are up to 14 steps in a process before an area is declared ‘Ready for Service’. Each step is closely monitored and has its own targets. The metrics under each have thresholds higher than what is needed to meet the corporate plan. We do this to allow for any unexpected challenges, as is prudent in a newly established process. This contingency management is something that any large project management organisation will do and is exactly what was happening here.
PAUL BROOKS: Because the copper length is much shorter, it can be run at much higher speeds. So we should expect to see speeds somewhere in the order of 600, maybe 800, maybe approaching 1,000 megabits per second.
DAVID LIPSON: Taking into account other associated costs, the price of skinny fibre to the front gate is around $2,000 per premises, still much cheaper than fibre all the way to the home at $3,700, but just $400 more than the Government's fibre-to-the-node technology.
DAVID LIPSON: NBN chief Bill Morrow says that difference in cost does add up.
BILL MORROW: So even with the $400 or $500 difference, you have to multiply that times millions. And worse yet is: it's going to take us a lot longer.
DAVID LIPSON: According to Bill Morrow, the new technology still doesn't reach the Government's benchmark of delivering fast broadband cheaper and sooner. He raised the new technology with the NBN board a year ago, but it's still not being rolled out.
BILL MORROW: As it relates to our remit that comes from the Government: it is to do it in the fastest way possible at the least possible cost. And with that as our overarching direction, our recommendation is to do fibre-to-the-node.
DAVID LIPSON (to Bill Morrow): That remit, though, is a political remit. Is that getting in the way of the best business model for the NBN?
BILL MORROW: Well, that's a question you really have to ask the politicians.
EMMA ALBERICI: And the Minister for Communications, Mitch Fifield, responded tonight, saying the Government had given NBN a clear mandate to find the fastest and most cost-effective way to complete the network.
He said NBN is continuing to innovate and look for ways to lower costs, but there is no better approach available right now.
That analysis was flawed as noted at the time.We already saw a while back the analysis that even FTTN costs overtook full FTTP after just 10 years.
That analysis was flawed as noted at the time.
I'm curious though.
What do you think Labor should now do given the above with FttDP and what do you think is now the role for FttP in the overall rollout ?
At the time, I offered reasons as to why that analysis was flawed which you've failed to rebut despite your repeated references to that analysis since.You said it was flawed, that doesn't mean it was.
At the time, I offered reasons as to why that analysis was flawed which you've failed to rebut despite your repeated references to that analysis since.
I didn't think it was really worth rebutting. You gave your opinion on his analysis. You didn't refute anything, you just questioned some of his assumptions.
Other than that one post above, I actually haven't referred to it at all since. But hey, don't go letting the truth get in the way of a good story..
How much will this increase the FTTN cost, and what bearing will it have on the already tenuous claim that FTTN is cheaper than FTTP?
If that statement is a reference to some other analysis, I'm curious to see it.That's not referring to that particular analysis, I've been saying it (ie FTTN being cheaper than FTTP) all along.
nbn will trial FTTPD in 30 premises and feels it will be applicable to about 300,000 premises that are too expensive to serve with other technologies. In the future, it hopes that the combination of FTTPD and “skinny fibre” - a new method that makes it easier to bring fibre to the kerb, will offer an upgrade path for the twisted-pair based sections of the NBN..
•Connection costs aren't blowing out - One of the sites the press tour covered was a semi-rural locale where just three dwellings occupy a few hectares. Morrow said stretching FTTN into that locale would mean bringing in power, which means a whole extra level of planning and expense and hassle. So the company is doing FTTP for those three premises instead, at a cost of several tens of thousands of dollars per premises because it has a mandate to deliver universal broadband. Sometimes nbn will find itself with many tricky builds for FTTP or FTTN, which will drag up quarterly average connection costs to levels that look scary but aren't indicative of long-term trends;
The example given was a handful of scattered rural properties outside Brisbane, which will be served by FTTP.
Morrow said FTTN, the preferred option, would have been too costly because it would have cost $200,000 to get power to the node. Satellite was ruled out because there are properties in the beam covering that area that need the capacity and that are too remote for FTTN or FTTP.
Fixed wireless was also deemed unsuitable because of the terrain, and too costly for the few premises to be served.
With your above two posts it's possible to compare the relative greenness of the grass.Edit: Seems the ASF forum didn't like the F word being in the link, so I've created a bit link.
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