Telstra's ACT exchange upgrade has ISPs fuming

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 09:37

IT Industry - Market

A row has erupted between Telstra and ISPs iiNet and Internode over Telstra's plans to close a sub-exchange in the Canberra suburb of Deakin: a move that will disrupt the provision of LSS and ULL based ADSL services by these and other ISPs.

The Financial Review reported yesterday that Telstra had written to the ISPs to tell them that it planned to install a RIM in Deakin. This would be connected by fibre to the Deakin exchange and would prevent services currently offered by other ISPs over copper from that exchange -LSS or ULLS based ADSL - from being delivered.

David Forman, executive director of the Competitive Carriers Coalition, branded the move by Telstra as "yet another warning about the company's true motive: to continue to bully competitors and stifle broadband competition in Australia."

He claimed that "The ISPs impacted by this move have been complaining to the ACCC about the potential for this to happen for years yet it has taken no decisive action to stop it... Now that it has an anti-competitive situation on its hands, the ACCC needs to immediately intervene and resolve this situation."

Telstra, however says the move has been forced upon it because a sub-exchange off the Deakin exchange is being demolished. Telstra spokesman, Martin Barr, told ITWIRE "Telstra has to move its sub-exchange from leased premises in the basement of the Alexander building in the suburb of Philip because the lease has expired on the building and it is being demolished...The sub-exchange is moving to a new site in the MLC building in Keltie Street, Phillip and we are taking the opportunity to upgrade the network to make ADSL2+ available to all end users in the exchange area."

The current exchange is fed by copper from the Deakin exchange, the new one will be connected over fibre. Barr said there were 18 ULL services and 24 LSS services across six Telstra Wholesale customers that would be affected by the upgrade.

No DSLAM space in the new exchange
He suggested that they would be able to continue to provide these services but would have to make arrangements to house their DSLAMs outside the new MLC exchange, because the MLC exchange will not have room for racks to house these. "However, because there is such a small number of services involved it may mean that it isn't economic for them to do so," he said.

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