Australia - National Broadband Plans Version 1 - from Telstra, Terria & others

Synopsis

Telstra’s announcement in late 2005 regarding its plan to roll out a Fibre-to-the-Node network has certainly focused the debate on future infrastructure developments. After years of denial, the race to fibre the country started; however the early start did not result in any action. Telstra’s aim had more to do with limiting competition by obtaining a regulatory holiday. The government did not give in and a year later Telstra withdrew its plans. An Optus-led consortium (Terria) took Telstra to the test by offering their participation in the project, something that was opposed by Telstra. In mid-2007 they announced their proposed access charges, which are significantly lower that the prices that have been rumoured Telstra is planning to charge. Axia, Acacia and TransACT or some of the other contenders for the NBN. The new government is in favour of FttH and 2008 will certainly see the start on a new approach to national infrastructure. The report also includes summaries of the regulatory submission of the key players.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Government’s National Broadband Plan (separate report)
• 3. Telstra’s initial FttN Plan
  • 3.1 Ambitious plans
  • 3.2 Analysis of the original plans
    • 3.2.1 Well-suited for monopolists
    • 3.2.2 FttN anti-competitive
    • 3.2.3 Facilities-based competition?
    • 3.2.4 Telstra wants domination across all services
    • 3.2.5 Regional Australia is excluded
    • 3.2.6 Within weeks, delays were announced
• 4. Consequent developments and analysis
  • 4.1 FttN – the need for industry cooperation
  • 4.2 From the FttN hype to the ADSL2+ reality
  • 4.3 Telstra’s proposed FttN wholesale services
  • 4.4 Telstra is rapidly building its FttN
• 5. Terria - Optus-led industry initiative
  • 5.1 Competition wants to participate in national fibre network
  • 5.2 Alternative FttN model
  • 5.3 Alternative solutions start shaping up
  • 5.4 National fibre plan starts to take shape (analysis)
  • 5.5 Terria committed to preparing and lodging a winning bid
• 6. Axia NetMedia Corporation
• 7. Acacia
• 8. Other participants
• 9. Regulatory Submission
  • 9.1 Telstra
    • 9.1.1 NBN Roll-out and Operation Submission
    • 9.1.2 NBN Vertical Integration and Separation Submission
  • 9.2 OPTUS
  • 9.3 Terria
• 10. Related reports

• Exhibit 1 – Facts and figures of the Telstra’s FttN roll-out
• Exhibit 2 – Fibre-to-the-Node (FttN)
• Exhibit 3 – FttN Group of competitive carriers
• Exhibit 4 – Cooperation scenarios
• Exhibit 5 – Access Prices Terria
• Exhibit 6 – Fibre Broadband Proposal