NBN Co's battery back-up plan goes flat

Stuart Corner
Monday, 20 December 2010 18:09

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Communications Alliance has hit out at NBN Co's plan to make back-up batteries in fibre-connected customer premises the default option, saying it will create unnecessary cost and be environmentally damaging.

Back up batteries would ensure that a standard analogue phone plugged into the NBN CPE would continue to work for up to five hours if power to the home failed. NBN is proposing that batteries would be installed unless customers specifically declined them and for the purposes of the Corporate Plan, NBN Co assumes that zero percent of fibre subscribers will opt-out of the battery backup solution.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, is calling for the battery backup to be offered on an opt-in basis, saying an opt-out approach would add up to $150 million of unnecessary cost to the rollout and would have "environmental implications through the insertion into the Australian environment of more than 10 million large batteries - many of which are likely to find their way into landfill once exhausted."

NBN Co proposes that supply and installation of the battery at the time the home is connected would be free but that the cost of replacing the batteries every three years or so would be borne by the home owner or their retail service provider. It says provision of the batteries is required "in order to comply with the Government's objectives."

This is despite the fact, which NBN Co acknowledges, that many homes use cordless phones that need mains power and that mobile phones, which do not, are ubiquitous.

"Although many fixed lines now have cordless handsets (and thus require supplementary mains power) and the ownership of mobile phones is almost universal, NBN Co recognises for safety reasons the need for an uninterrupted fixed line services is still needed during times of emergency," it says.

It also argues that "Beyond calling, remote monitoring services and alarm systems will also be able to continue to function during mains failures," if they have their own backup batteries. This however will be true only if they use the analogue phone connection - which is very unlikely in the future as the technology will be heading towards obsolescence.

NBN Co notes that the ethernet interfaces on the FTTH CPE will not be powered during a mains failure. "This is closely aligned to FTTP rollouts in other countries. Provision of battery backup power to the ethernet ports is a 'custom' feature that is not currently available from equipment vendors," it says, and it gives no indication that this option is likely to be available in the future.