NBN latest
January 16, 2012
For apartments in the Brunswick Test Area it is expected that connections to apartments will start in June/July 2012. From conversations with the NBN Activation Team it appears that a little work remains to be done on agreements to be offered by Telstra, Optus, IInet, etc....
NBN rollout to be delayed
AAP
The decision to halt the tendering process for the National Broadband Network will delay the scheme by a few months, the federal government says.
Communications minister Stephen Conroy told ABC's Lateline on Tuesday the decision by NBN Co in mid-May to reject tenders by 14 construction firms as too expensive had stalled the process.
"We're probably running a few months behind due to a combination of the negotiations with Telstra not being finalised yet, and also on the contractor issue.
"On the contractor issue, I believe there's an announcement, very imminent, from NBN on that."
Mr Conroy would not confirm if contractor had been found.
In early May it was reported that Telstra threatened to walk away from an $11 billion deal with NBN Co that would see the government business enterprise granted access to Telstra's underground cables.
On Tuesday, the government launched a strategy aimed at teaching Australians how to use the NBN to work, get an education and receive healthcare from home.
The programs include $23.8 million over three years to set up `digital hubs' in each of the first 40 communities to benefit from the arrival of NBN services.
The hubs will help the residents gain the skills needed to best use the NBN.
Funding of $12.4 million will also be provided over three years to help small-to-medium enterprises and not-for-profit organisations around those 40 communities to best use the network.
As well, $5.5 million will be spent helping people in regional areas access quality healthcare through telehealth and health outreach services.
© 2011 AAP
NBN Co to foot the bill in linking up apartments
Mitchell Bingemann From: The Australian
October 26, 2010 12:00AM
THE National Broadband Network Co will cover the costs of rewiring old apartment blocks to ensure they can connect to the service.
The decision comes as the national association for strata managers and body corporates, the National Community Titles Institute, warned that landlords would not be willing to foot the bill for any extra costs needed to get the best service offered by the NBN. "We would encourage landlords to make the NBN available to tenants but inevitably there could be a cost involved and in most situations like this, landlords are less willing than owner-occupied units to meet those costs," NCTI executive officer Mark Lever told The Australian. "This might have to be something that body corporates resolve themselves, and also pay for it." Those fears should be assuaged as the NBN Co yesterday confirmed to The Australian that it had recently formalised its position on connecting multi-dwelling units (MDU) to the NBN.
The formal position is in line with one of the 84 recommendations outlined in the $25 million McKinsey KPMG implementation study, which the government is yet to respond to. "We will be doing MDU re-wiring during rollout -- because we have said our objective is to bring an NTU (network terminating unit) to each premises free of charge. As the name suggests, the NTU is the end of our network," an NBN spokeswoman said.
The NBN Co did not say whether the task of rewiring old apartment blocks would affect the NBN's $43bn price tag, but the spokeswoman said the cost had been factored into its business plan, which was submitted to its board last week. According to the implementation study, enlisting the co-operation of the body corporates that oversee MDUs is crucial in ensuring the financial success of the NBN. MDUs account for one-third of the nation's premises and an unwillingness by body corporates to connect to the NBN, coupled with disparate state approaches to the way premises are being connected to the network, could wreak havoc on the government's and the NBN Co's plans to ensure the maximum number of premises sign up to the network.
The NCTI -- which represents the vast majority of the 270,000 body corporates around the nation -- has warned that unless the government and NBN Co start engaging with strata managers and body corporates about how the network will be connected to apartments, then many of the multi-dwelling units could miss out on the NBN. "It's all speculative at the moment. We actually don't know how the NBN is going to approach body corporates and how they will install the NBN at MDUs," Mr Lever said. So far, the government and the NBN Co have not entered formal discussions with any bodies representing strata managers or the body corporates. However, the NBN Co said it would use the first five release sites in its mainland build -- in Willunga, Brunswick, Townsville, Kiama and Armidale -- to test a range of installation and deployment methods in MDUs.
Also see
theOCguide re foxtel and NBN.
NBN FACTS
01. For residential customers, the location for the installation of a satellite service must be the person’s principal place of residence i.e it does not include holiday homes.
02. People in homes, small businesses and indigenous communities in some of the most remote areas of Australia will be among the first users of a new a high-speed broadband satellite service provided over the National Broadband Network.
03. Download speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second to 93% of Australian homes and businesses.
04. The NBN Co Interim Satellite Service is scheduled to be available from 1 July 2011 via participating retail service providers.
05. Eligible users of the Interim Satellite service will be those people who are unable to access other broadband alternatives and who meet the service guidelines by passing a service qualification test.
06. Remaining 7% of premises being connected at up to 12 Megabits per second using wireless and satellite technologies.
07. NBN Co plans to deliver fibre-based coverage with speeds of 100 Megabits per second to 93% of premises.
08. NBN Co will provide satellite equipment and meet the cost of the installation of dishes and other terminal equipment, which will remain the property of NBN Co.
09. The NBN Co Interim Satellite service aims to assist the transition from the Australian Broadband Guarantee Scheme to the long-term NBN Co satellite service.
10. Capital cost of A$35.7 billion including a Government equity contribution of A$27.1 billion.
11. For most premises, NBN Co will use either Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) or Ethernet Point to Point fibre and will link some premises by wireless or satellite, depending on location and geography.
12. Where geographic location impedes the ability to provide either fibre or advanced wireless connectivity, NBN Co plans to provide like connectivity through satellite technology, delivering 12 Megabits per second.
13. NBN Co expects that a range of retail prices and plans will be offered by retail service providers.