Two New Articles Have Reminded Me Just How Tenuous The Viability Of The NBN Is!

There have been some interesting moves in the broadband space recently.

Firstly, I noticed this:

How we’re building the fibre network of the future

By Brendon Riley February 2, 2022

As we edge further into a digital century, it’s clear that data is king. How much data you have; how fast it moves, and how much you can send are the currency of the digital realm.

There’s more demand than ever for fast and capable networks to shuttle around huge amounts of data as the world digitises at an astronomical pace.

Our hyper-connected age now needs a hyper-connected network so Aussies can stay on the cutting edge of the global digital economy. That’s why we’re spending up big on a new state-of-the-art fibre network.

We’ll be building all new inter-city dual fibre paths to make sure Australia has the network it deserves.

Here’s what it all means.

Bolstering our fibre network

Over the next five years we will be bolstering our national fibre network, adding 20,000 new route kilometres. The ambition is to improve the size, reach and bandwidth of our already extensive optical fibre network.

The new fibre paths will boost capacity, speed and meet the needs of a burgeoning digital nation, and this project will deliver tomorrow’s connectivity today.

The new fibre technology will enable ultrafast connectivity between capital cities as well as into regional and remote communities. This will support remote working and education needs, health services, high-definition entertainment consumption and online gaming and IoT use cases such as mining and agriculture.

The new fibre technology we’re deploying will build upon the existing fibre network we have today, as well as our substantial sub-sea routes, with which we can provide end to end solutions on a global scale.

The new inter city, dual path ultra-high capacity, low-latency fibre will enable whopping transmission rates of 650Gbps (over six times today’s common rate of 100Gbps). It will enable express connectivity between capital cities up to 55Tbps per fibre pair capacity (over six times today’s typical capacity of 8.8Tbps per fibre pair) on routes such as Sydney – Melbourne; Sydney-Brisbane; and Perth-Sydney.

Translation: it’s fast. Really fast. Fast enough to drive Australia into the next three decades of connectivity and into a top spot on the world stage.

We’re working with our industry-leading optical fibre and cable providers, Corning Incorporated and Prysmian to get this project done. Prysmian’s cable has been developed to Australia’s unique environmental conditions and will be completely designed and manufactured locally on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Corning’s SMF-28® ULL fibre with advanced bend enables a compact cable design while providing greater transmission capacity and lower latency over this new long-haul network.

We’ll be kicking off this project in late FY22, and together with our Viasat project, we will invest an additional ~$350 million of capex per year outside of our BAU capex* envelope over the next three years to get both projects done.

It forms part of our ambitious T25 transformation goal for InfraCo, to deliver profitable growth and value by improving access, utilisation and scale of our infrastructure.

This is a massive milestone for us at InfraCo and for Telstra as we continue to operate and improve the networks of the future.

Here is the link:

https://exchange.telstra.com.au/how-were-building-the-fibre-network-of-the-future/

Press comment is here:

Telstra’s satellite hit to NBN

The telecommunications giant is stepping up its investment in satellite and fibre optic networks in a move that puts more pressure on the government-owned National Broadband Network.

Feb 2, 2022 – 6.47pm

Telstra and its new satellite partner, Viasat, delivered two blows to the government-owned NBN Co on Wednesday with the release of plans to invest up to $1.6 billion in new telco infrastructure over the next five years.

NBN has every reason to be worried about Telstra upgrading 20,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable on the east coast, and United States satellite company Viasat revealing plans to offer satellite broadband services to business and consumers.

Viasat, which provides Wi-Fi on Qantas planes in Australia, is about to launch the first of three geostationary satellites that will have a footprint covering the entire globe.

The first ViaSat-3 terabit-class satellite will be launched late this year, followed six months later by another one covering Europe, and a third one covering Australia.

Dave Ryan, Viasat’s president of space and commercial networks, says the company’s aim is to offer Australian customers the fastest satellite downloads at the lowest cost per bit of data.

The satellite services to be offered by Viasat in Australia are radically different to the product being sold in the US to people mainly living in rural areas who are unable to access fixed-line services.

Viasat’s broadband services in the US range in price from about $US12 ($16.80) a month for a 12 megabits per second service with a 12 gigabyte data cap, up to $US170 a month for a 100 Mbps service with a 300 GB data cap.

Viasat will have to slash its prices and boost its speeds if its launch in Australia is going to offer a viable alternative to 5G mobile services and NBN’s Sky Muster product, which is subsidised by city dwellers.

Telstra will co-locate Viasat’s satellite access node (SAN) equipment at hundreds of sites across Australia and will build and manage high-speed fibre links to each site.

The network will connect the SAN sites to multiple redundant data centres that will house the core networking equipment needed to manage the expected increase in data traffic.

Government plans to potentially sell NBN Co were already under some pressure because of competition from 5G broadband services offered by Telstra, TPG and Optus.

Threat to NBN business model

The Viasat deal could pose a longer-term threat to NBN’s business model, which relies on gradual increases in wholesale prices and a charge for bandwidth usage.

There is an element of defensiveness in Telstra’s decision to upgrade its fibre networks and partner with Viasat.

It is facing competition from a new fixed-line broadband competitor, Bevan Slattery’s HyperOne, a $1.5 billion project that involves laying 20,000 kilometres of fibre on the east coast, and on the west coast linking Darwin and Perth.

Slattery, who has a remarkable track record of convincing businesses to back his large-scale telco projects, plans to put broadband connectors near every urban environment with a population of more than 100 people.

NBN also faces increased competition from Optus, which is launching a new software-designed satellite called Optus 11, which will be the first in the Asia-Pacific to offer concurrent broadcast and broadband services.

NBN has invested $5 billion in its fixed wireless and satellite networks. These networks are loss-making and are funded by a cross subsidy from NBN’s fixed-line networks.

It has 111,000 customers on its Sky Muster satellite networks, while there are 418,000 premises ready to connect to the Sky Muster service.

NBN’s expansion in rural areas has been hindered by the fact that Telstra does not offer NBN services in regional areas. Instead, Telstra prefers to sell mobile broadband services.

More here:

https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/telstra-s-satellite-hit-to-nbn-20220202-p59t7q

Then, as if that was not enough we have this from StarLink – Elon Musk:

Starlink Premium

With more than double the antenna capability of Starlink, Starlink Premium delivers faster internet speeds and higher throughput. Order now to reserve, deliveries start in Q2 2022.

BIGGER ANTENNA & MORE THROUGHPUT

Designed specifically for businesses and high demand users, Starlink Premium helps ensure bandwidth for critical operations even during times of peak network usage.

Read on here:

https://www.starlink.com/premium

I would have to say that, one way or another, it is ‘game on’ for NBN and its monopoly pricing and rubbish service!

The next 2-3 years will be fascinating!

What do you think?

David.