Conroy readies fibre-for-greenfields draft

James Riley
Tuesday, 24 November 2009 13:22

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will release within days the discussion draft of legislation that would mandate fibre connections for all greenfield sites, a key indicator for developers and infrastructure providers in making near-term investment decisions.

Speaking at the unveiling of the nation's first dedicated fibre-to-the-premises gateway site – built by Canberra provider TransACT in the new suburb of Forde – Senator Conroy said it was backwards thinking to install copper connections into new developed that would only need to be retro-fitted later.

TransACT officially opened its new Fibre gateway exchange in a growth corridor that will ultimately offer 100Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload services.

Quoting research from FTTP projects in the US, Senator Conroy said a direct fibre connections to a premise adds about $5,000 to the value of the home, and that the cost of providing that connection was considerably less.

The release of the draft legislation will then give key groups on the issue, from state government planning authorities to developers, direction on how the program would be implemented.

Greenfield developers are currently required to provide copper connections.

"It simply does not make sense for new homes to be equipped with old telephone technology," Senator Conroy said. "It also stands to reason to avoid the cost of retro-fitting new estates with fibre connections in the years to come," he said.

The draft would be released by the end of this week or early next, he said.

"There are a myriad of discussion still to go on – both with state governments, with planning authorities and (other) state jurisdictions – which is why we want to put the draft legislation on the table out there to consider."

TransACT chief executive Ivan Slavish said the FTTP gateway building houses equipment delivering FTTP-based services – of up to 100Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload – to several of Canberra’s new northern suburbs.

"TransACT will be providing FTTP infrastructure to around 16,000 homes and businesses in around the Canberra region, with new customers connecting daily as new homes are built," Slavich said.

And in advance of the NBN, TransACT is already looking at extending its FTTP investments into Brownfield – existing – housing sites.

Slavich told iTWire TransACT had invested heavily for years in moving fibre closer to the home and says Canberra has more fibre to the kerb through TransACT that any city in Australia.

The creation of the NBN Co and the Government's strategic plans for a national broadband network had been a "game-changer" Slavich said, and extending fibre connections to brownfield suburbs was now starting to look attractive.

"TransACT will also be looking to test fibre to the premis to Brownfield sites – that is to existing suburbs – so absolutely we will be looking to roll-out this technology in existing suburbs as well," Slavich said.

The TransACT board was currently considering a brownfield investment proposal from management.

Slavich remained tight-lipped about reports that TransACTs discussions with the NBN Co over the vending in of assets had collapsed in failure, citing commercial in confidence issues.

But the decision to press ahead in top brownfield sites suggests those reports are premature, and that discussions with NBN Co remain live.

Certainly the just opened Forde gateway facility will not be over-built by NBN Co, Slavich said.