Australia’s NBN rollout a global embarrassment

Australia’s disastrous roll-out of the high speed National Broadband Network (NBN) has continued to make global headlines in the last 24 hours – including coverage in the New York Times – and for all the wrong reasons.

According to this story on TechGuide, not only does Australia rank well behind the US, Western Europe, Japan and Korea but we also “embarrassingly” fall below countries such as Thailand and Kenya, ranking number 51 on the Akamai ranking of internet speeds. And perhaps most disparagingly, this is despite a $50 billion investment over the last 8 years.

So why have we become the laughing stock of the world – and as the TechGuide writer so aptly put it, a ‘technology backwater’ despite boasting a rich resources market and enviable lifestyle?

What should have been a consistent roll-out of the latest and greatest technology has been chopped and changed more times than one can recall.

The original plans for Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) have been replaced with a mish mash of Fibre to the Node (FTTN) or Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) coupled with existing copper wire infrastructure – and in some areas, now reportedly wireless connections via dedicated NBN towers.

One Australian NBN provider, Telstra has even been forced to start offering existing NBN customers their money back due to unacceptably slow speeds as reported below on Channel 10’s The Project.

So what impact will these continued NBN issues have on small businesses trying to effectively operate in the digital age, and will Australians ultimately get the high speed internet speeds originally promised? Only time will tell.

Click here to read the full story TechGuide or New York Times article here.

 

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Aussies clueless that NBN will be compulsory

Are you one of 6 million Australians who didn’t know it will be mandatory for you to switch to the new NBN network?

According to a new survey from Finder.com.au and a story published on msn.com here, more than one in three Australians (37%) have no plans to switch to the NBN or don’t know what it is.

What is most surprising about the research is that so many people mistakenly believe the NBN is optional, and haven’t twigged to the fact that their existing telephone and internet will be cut off if they don’t make the transition.

In short, the NBN will be the new universal communications infrastructure network, completely replacing the existing copper network that landline telephones and many home broadband connections rely on.

And this changeover is not that far away with the Government imposing a deadline of 2020 for all 11.9 million Australian premises to switch over to the NBN network.

So how come 6 million Aussies could be left in the dark, disconnected? 

Of the 2004 Australians surveyed, 17% said they would not make the switch, while 18% didn’t know what they would do or didn’t understand what the NBN was about.

Even a small percentage of those who did plan to move across to National Broadband Network aren’t in a hurry – claiming they would take 18 to 24 months to make the transition. Little do they realise that their phone and internet would be cut off during this time with telecommunication companies obliged to deactivate existing copper within 18 months of NBN arriving in their area.

Click here to read the full article.

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NBN Co Revenue Jumps as National Broadband Network Users Rise

The company in charge of rolling out the national broadband network says it is well on track towards its long term goals after adding about 338,000 new homes and businesses to the system in the September quarter.

Most of the growth came on the back of a lift in the number of Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) connections.

The fast-to-implement technology, introduced in September 2015 despite criticism of its relative performance, is currently helping drive overall footprint expansion, NBN Co said.

The federal government-owned NBN reached 3.2 million premises by September 30.

Chief executive Bill Morrow said that number had now reached 3.4 million, representing nearly 30 per cent of the company’s overall 2020 target.

“This quarter’s result is further evidence that we are on track to achieve our long term targets,” he said over a conference call on Tuesday.

The corporation earned revenue of $181 million for the three months to September, more than double from a year ago, driven by a jump in active end- users.

Active users rose to 1.38 million at September-end, chief financial officer Stephen Rue said, compared to about 611,000 a year ago.

The user base rose more than 25 per cent in the three-month period, he said.

Average revenue per user – a key figure for the telecommunications industry – was steady at $43 a month over the year.

NBN incurred $1.48 billion in capital expenditure during the September quarter.

“We are adding more than 100,000 homes and businesses to NBN every month and I expect this number will only increase,” Mr Morrow said.

NBN said in September it would implement the new fibre-to-the-distribution-point (FTTdp) technology for 700,000 homes and businesses, as this would be cheaper than using the legacy Optus cable network.

About 400,000 of theses sites had been slated to get the more expensive HFC connections.

Posted on: http://www.afr.com/technology/web/nbn/nbn-co-revenue-jumps-as-national-broadband-network-users-rise-20161108-gskv3f

 

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