Howard pushes to fix broadband

Quote:
THE Howard cabinet will today consider creating a panel of experts to examine options for a national broadband network in an effort to break the impasse between Telstra and the competition regulator.
The audacious bid by Communications Minister Helen Coonan would stretch the Howard Government's competition credentials but could allow the Government to promote a credible broadband strategy before the election. It could also pave the way for a carve-up of the nation's broadband future, with Telstra focused on the capital cities and Optus on the country.

Cabinet is expected to finalise the $600 million Broadband Connect project for services in the bush, which is expected to go to an Optus-led group, despite growing backbench disquiet. This would clear the way for a renewed effort to secure a fast broadband network for the five capital cities, where Telstra is considered the frontrunner to build a $5 billion-plus network.

Senator Coonan's plan follows Labor's offer to use public money, including $2 billion from the Future Fund, to build a so-called fibre-to-the-node network, bringing faster broadband services for most of the nation's businesses and consumers.

The Government wants the private sector to build the network but has been unable to overcome a dispute with Telstra over what the company sees as its right to charge other operators rent to use the network once it has been built.

With the ACCC unable to overcome the dispute, Senator Coonan will today ask cabinet to agree to appoint a panel of experts to end the impasse before the election.

PM aware of vulnerability

Having created a political bulwark against the surging Opposition on industrial relations and climate change, the Howard Government will use the proposal to see off another vulnerability - the expansion of faster broadband in Australia.

Former senior bureaucrats, including former Australian Communications Authority chief Tony Shaw, are understood to be being canvassed to serve on the panel.

A panel consisting of three or four members may also include staff members of the ACCC and the Department of Communications, as well as members from the commercial sector.

The option of an independent panel will also buy time for other infrastructure firms to draw up alternatives that could put further pressure on the two leading broadband plans -- those backed by Telstra and consortiums led by Optus. Some extra funding, up to $300 million, might be considered to further inspire negotiations.

Battle intensifies

The battle between the two groups intensified last week when Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo laid out detailed plans for a $4.5billion network after the Optus-led G9 consortium lodged its proposed pricing - how much it would charge competitors to use the network it built - with the ACCC.

Telstra is expected to unveil its pricing in coming weeks but so far has only said that an "average" access price would be about $85 a month, higher than a range of "5-$50 month from the G9.

John Howard has made it clear that any solution must emphasise the new competitive forces that he expected from the sale of the remaining public component of Telstra last year.

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,21851394-462,00.html

howard wants the g33k Vote?

if he can have it done before the election, he can have my vote.

It's about time something was done about Australia's broadband situation.
If he takes positive steps to lowering pricing, increasing coverage and speeds, then he has my vote.

well maybe jonny got his 1st comp and realized that he cant get instantaneous pr0n? thus the push for faster internet :P

Works for me :)

Quote from Milenko;309490:
It's about time something was done about Australia's broadband situation.
If he takes positive steps to lowering pricing, increasing coverage and speeds, then he has my vote.

I second that.

would you trust someone who can't count.
Last I checked there are 8 capital cities not 5

Vote. Labor.

Howard is promising the world to get the votes as his popularity landslides, and he will deliver nothing.

i dont like mark latham.. i think i might donkey

Quote from MetalAttack;309517:
i dont like mark latham.. i think i might donkey

rofl do you even know who is running for labor?

mark latham ? err wtf ?

Quote from MetalAttack;309517:
i dont like mark latham.. i think i might donkey

/slap

welcome to 2007?

Its all talk.... still no action.

Mark was the reason I didn't vote labour last time.

Sigh whatever it takes to get Claire ****ing martin out of the picture is a + in my eyes

We're talking Federal politics here Korny ;)

Quote from morge;309513:
would you trust someone who can't count.
Last I checked there are 8 capital cities not 5

Rabble Rouser!

heh heh heh

bah to confusing :P **** howard and **** claire

howard could hardwire my house to the internet with a 1 trillion Mbps connection and i still wouldnt vote for that old ****

Quote from Bad Crispy;309581:
howard could hardwire my house to the internet with a 1 trillion Mbps connection and i still wouldnt vote for that old ****

Ha! Love it :)

Quote from Bad Crispy;309581:
howard could hardwire my house to the internet with a 1 trillion Mbps connection and i still wouldnt vote for that old ****

if he delivered that to my house i'd even give him a reach around.

Quote from paladin;309590:
if he delivered that to my house i'd even give him a reach around.

ROFL ;)

Quote from paladin;309590:
if he delivered that to my house i'd even give him a reach around.

but only cos you're a fan of the smurfs tv series - Gargamel in particular ;)

Quote from Korny;309571:
**** howard and **** claire

damn that is one youtube video I'll skip

Quote:
Customers from numerous Australian ISPs are reporting network outages across the country.

BigPond customers reported no international connectivity just before 9PM, while Optus users reported outages and slowness at the same time. BigPond's support lines are overloaded, and a message says that calls "could not be completed at this time".

Westnet said it had lost ADSL2+ backhaul to "WA, SA and QLD", Internode lost its Tasmanian POP and Exetel customers are complaining about severe slowdowns.

It is likely that Telstra has had a major network failure, which has impacted ISPs across the country.

Please be patient as Whirlpool copes with record visitors during this time!

Already failed lol.

http://www.whirlpool.net.au/

Didn't have a problem, myself... ;)

ALP said they were going to fix the BB issue howard suck crap

Frankly if you beleive either of them, you're an idiot :P

they said it, it must be true!

believe it when i see it, from either of them.

Yeah well I'll believe it when I've seen it, and then waited 6 months to see if it was a trick, and then another 6 months to see if it ****s up.

I'm so cynical I don't even believe myself.

Well before we can see either of them do it (or not do it), you need to elect someone. So pick, and we'll find out. I know who I'm not picking. ;)

i'm picking whoever rec doesn't just so i can avoid becoming ghey by association.

Quote from paladin;309631:
i'm picking whoever rec doesn't just so i can avoid becoming ghey by association.

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

i just want adsl 2+ FFS.

Quote:

Vaile - Broadband details this week

Mr Vaile today said the government hoped to make an announcement on a process for determining whether Telstra or its rival, the Optus-led G9 group, get the go-ahead to build a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network.
It also hoped to make an announcement on its program to expand the availability of broadband across regional Australia.

"We're certainly hopeful that we will have a full package to announce during the course of this week," Mr Vaile told the Ten Network.

Mr Vaile said the government was taking a holistic approach to broadband in Australia.

"We know we need to provide assistance and subsidy and support to get the sort of coverage we need in regional Australia," he said.

The FTTN involves connecting fast fibre optic cable to Telstra's existing copper wire network, which is linked to homes and businesses.

Labor has proposed contributing $4.7 billion from the future fund to contribute to the $8 billion cost of rolling out high-speed broadband to 90 per cent of the nation

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21891691-15306,00.html

I can't be baited to vote Liberal on the promise of improved broadband...

Still Labor for me...

Quote:
MILLIONS of Australians in rural and outer-metropolitan areas will be given a promise of fast broadband access in a $2billion package to be unveiled today - the first part of a two-step strategy to rewire the nation.

And a third player and possibly others are gearing up to challenge Telstra and Optus in the most lucrative markets: high-speed optic fibre networks in the five major capital cities.

John Howard will today promise that 99 per cent of Australians will get access to fast broadband with a minimum 12Mbps using a mix of technologies and private sector players.

The Government hopes to reclaim the political momentum from Labor after Kevin Rudd's promise of a $5billion taxpayer guarantee for a national fibre network covering 98per cent of the population.

"The plan will deliver a state-of-the-art broadband network, with coverage for rural and regional areas at metropolitan-comparable prices," Mr Howard says in a radio address to be given this morning.

Telstra now faces a beefed-up competitor in the bush and a potential new rival in its most profitable centres.

Investment banking sources said there was considerable interest in creating consortia for the five-city network.

Two major Australian banks, Macquarie and Babcock and Brown are already deeply involved in the utility infrastructure model. Babcocks also owns former Irish incumbent Eircom. Macquarie was part of consortia bidding for Broadband Connect.

The Government is seeking to lock in the future of the $2billion Regional Communications Fund. New legislation will guarantee only the interest from the fund, which holds proceeds of the Telstra sale, can be spent. The manoeuvre is designed to force Labor to vote against the law because it wants the money for its own programs.

Optus and Elders, a rural finance company, have formed a group called OPEL and will stump up $917 million. The Howard Government will add $358 million to existing programs, in a dramatic overhaul of internet delivery in outer-metropolitan and rural areas.
The Nationals are keen to promote the Elders link as part of their federal election pitch.

"In the 20th century, some people in rural Australia had to wait until the 1980s to get a telephone; in the 21st century they'll be getting broadband at the same time as everyone else," a source said.

Labor claims the taxpayer funding is a breach of the tender guidelines for the $600 million Broadband Connect program, and has referred the issue to the Auditor-General.

Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy said the Government had "moved the goal-posts on Broadband Connect, but only told some of the players".

The Government is expected to argue that Broadband Connect was a tender to bid for a grant followed by negotiation, and there was scope for either side to inject more money.

The second step of the plan will be to create a run-off for the right to build an optic fibre high-speed broadband network in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

After an extraordinary campaign by Telstra against competition regulators, the Prime Minister will announce a special panel to look at bids from any telecommunications company wanting to build a high-speed broadband network in the five capitals.

Telstra refused to deal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in what many in the Government saw as an attempt to bludgeon concessions.

But at the insistence of Peter Costello, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry and an ACCC officer will be on the panel to ensure that any concession granted does not lessen protection for consumers and competition.

Telstra has accepted the idea of a panel reviewing the bids.

Any network built in a city would have to allow other parties to access it on reasonable terms. The charge for access is one of the most hard-fought areas administered by the ACCC.

Sources close to the process described the OPEL consortium - which will use a mix of optic fibre, copper-based broadband technology ADSL2-plus and emerging wireless - as the clear winner in the bidding.

Many contenders, including Telstra, were knocked out in the first round as they had no plans to commit any of their own funds.

In more remote areas, towns will get access to the latest wireless broadband, known as WiMax, and for the last 1 per cent in very remote areas, subsidised satellite services will continue.

The aim of the network is to provide broadband services of 12Mbps or more to millions more Australians than the 5million being targeted by commercial fibre network proposals.

The panel includes businesses heavyweights - former Qantas chairman Dick Warburton and AGL chief Len Bleasel - and will immediately move to scope a tender for a national fibre network, likely to be produced by the end of the next month.

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21921895-15306,00.html

Hmmm seems Darwin and Hobart is not a capital city of Australia.
But good to see they are doing somthing i guess

12mbit is no longer "broadband," except in Australia anyway. :)

100Gbit fibre is being trialed internationally at the moment, while services capable of 100+ mbit (broadband over powerline and DOCSIS 3.0 cable) are already in play elsewhere.

if 100Gbit fibre got unleashed to the masses the internet would probably melt.

Quote from MetalAttack;311112:
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21921895-15306,00.html

Hmmm seems Darwin and Hobart is not a capital city of Australia.
But good to see they are doing somthing i guess

There are two very good reasons they are both left off the map in terms of Broadband. Backhaul to both cities is extremely expensive, or in the case of Darwin barely exists. Tasmania is fixable but Telstra owns both operating fibre cables to Tasmania from the mainland and of course this gives them a monopoly over backhaul to Tas. It actually costs more to send data here then it does to the US, that's how rediculous the situation is here. There is some dark fibre waiting to be used, however the Government is screwing around with the tender for someone to utilise it. Only time will tell there, but when it happens, backhaul costs to Tas will drop significantly and hopefully will put us back on track.

This has resulted in many ISPs not offering ADSL2 here when there is enough demand for it to happen, Tas has about 4-5 time the population of the NT.

Darwin is just well Darwin, so far from everywhere. Really not sure if this will ever be sorted out at least not any time soon. With a fibre network in the works if enough money is thrown into it, it may see Darwin properly connected to the national backbone.

I'm glad the broadband debate has heated up so much, its years behind but welldone for Labour for jumping in the deep end to kick start everyone. Be an interesting few months leading up to Election.

Quote from paladin;311124:
if 100Gbit fibre got unleashed to the masses the internet would probably melt.

100gbit would undoubtably be an exchange-to-exchange medium initially. Can't see it in consumer hands for a long, long time, but what it means is that 100mbit connections at homes will be feasable with minimum conjestion etc.

No matter what the retards do with the exchanges, unless that lazy useles tightarse pack of scabs (Tel$tra) replace my RCM with a RIM then I'm still stuck with nothing but dialup that wont connect any faster than 31.2kbps.

Not bad for 30 minutes outside of a capital city. Perhaps I should move to Wadeye.

I dont get Optus reception at home either, so there new "broadband connect" will also be useless. About as useless as NextG, which I conveniently dont get reception for either...

Anywhere in a 30 minute radius of Adelaide city you've got Wi-Fi access via Optus. 2 hours out you can get DSL2+ through Node (Maitland etc). And this is Adelaide.

Where do you live Jabsy? Darwin surely? :)

Australian broadband needs to change its focus. A 100Gb pipe to the net is fairly useless when I could use current isp download allowances in about a second.

The implementation of adsl2 (from adsl) saw no real improvements in download allowances - in fact overall id say they've actually decreased, despite the 16 fold increase in speed.

Telstra's new fiber network looks like a big waste of money too. Infact it's pay more, get less.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21868206-2,00.html
Quote:
In a briefing to journalists yesterday, Telstra executives said the company would charge $59 a month to its rivals for access to a basic service.

But this would give users relatively slow speeds of 512kbps - only double the current basic model and just 1 per cent of the maximum speeds of 50Mbps possible with Telstra's proposed new fibre network.

Customers wanting higher speeds would have to pay much more and Telstra is understood to have plans to withdraw its $59-a-month price after two years.

No mention of download quotas, but you'd have to be fairly optimistic to expect much of an increase.

I'm all for increased speed to the internet, but it needs to come proportional with larger download quotas.

Agreed Neo, everyone seems to be focusing a lot more on speed which has its limits.

However download quotas aren't really going to do anything with the backhaul cost to the US being as expensive as it is, have a search on whirlpool for some sources if need to. Like I said though hopefully this will get better with new pipes to the US being put in place in the near future.

Limits haven't increased because despite higher speeds the data is still too expensive for providers.

Which, not suprisingly, is mainly Telstra's fault.

The next complaint is that a 100Gbit pipe is useless because we don't have any a-grade local services to occupy that pipe with, but that'll come with the allowances and bigger pipes I guess.

Simple fact is, we're behind with everything broadband related.

and most likely always will be :p

Still though interesting times for the internet in Australia. I'm keen to see the kind of impact the new international links will have.

http://www.itwire.com.au/component/option,com_tag/tag,Submarine%20cable%20networks/Itemid,0/

Some quick articles there, cbf finding more atm but it should give enough info what is going on with this area of things. It's all related anyway :p

Kerry interviews the Howard polly about their boardband package on the 7:30 report on the ABC tonight, just watched it. You guys up north might wanna turn in when its time.

And before someone makes a shit joke, yes the 7:30 report is on at 7:30... ;)

I soo hope that the tender does not end up with Tel$tra in anyway shape or form, all that would do is send up backwards.

just wanna cry.......compared to other countrys our adsl is like there dialup :(

Quote from Bad Crispy;311193:
I soo hope that the tender does not end up with Tel$tra ...

It didn't. It got awarded to the Elders/Optus consortium.

Watch how many more Telstra jobs get axed now....

Edit

Elders/Optus award for regional only. Still, good to see a competent company taking up the challenge - maybe now somebody might actually give a damn ;-)

well if we do get 100gbit i hope NO ONE EVER CUTS IT by accident

:P

Quote from cockroche;311219:
well if we do get 100gbit i hope NO ONE EVER CUTS IT by accident

:P

Going to want to hope no one cuts/breaks anything fibre, too bloody expensive to fix.

Quote from Jono;311220:
Going to want to hope no one cuts/breaks anything fibre, too bloody expensive to fix.

To expensive to fix right this moment. Costs will cheapen, though.

Summed up perfectly ;)

http://blogs.news.com.au/news/blogocracy/index.php/news/comments/the_narrow_focus_of_government_broadband/

Quote from rec;311147:
Anywhere in a 30 minute radius of Adelaide city you've got Wi-Fi access via Optus. 2 hours out you can get DSL2+ through Node (Maitland etc). And this is Adelaide.

40 minutes out and no 2+ here unfortunately :(

Still dead-spots obviously, but the fact you can get it in country towns hours north of the capital city is still awesome.

Quote from OverDrive;311241:
Summed up perfectly ;)

http://blogs.news.com.au/news/blogocracy/index.php/news/comments/the_narrow_focus_of_government_broadband/

In terms of the broadband debate, well put and I fully agree. Will the general public be smart enough to recognise this for what is is? I hope so, because I don't want a costly, ill conceived plan that has about 5 years before it's obsolete for a large number of Aussies. We need to encourage people and business out of cities, and infrastructure that will stand the test of time.

Quote from rec;311147:
Where do you live Jabsy? Darwin surely? :)

I'm at Howard Springs, the exchange is enabled and ADSL is available to most folks through their local RIM. Unfortunately I'm on an older RCM, which can't support DSL, and Telstra wont upgrade it as apparently it'll cost them too much money.

I'm currently putting together a notice to all my neighbours who also hang off this RCM telling them exactly why they can't get ADSL, and why they should tell Telstra to stick their telephony up their arse as companies like AAPT and Southern Cross are sooo much cheaper. A direct price comparison might sway them to move providers?? Who knows??

It'd be piss funny if everybody churned their voice calls to someone else.

Quote from Xaine;311204:
Elders/Optus award for regional only. Still, good to see a competent company taking up the challenge - maybe now somebody might actually give a damn ;-)

Apparently it'll be available as from July. Plans priced from $30-$60.

What's the bet it's for 1GB plans only. Hell I'd pay up to $200 for 10GB with low latency. I need it for regular driver downloads, virus/windows updates and remote desktop. VSAT just didn't cut it.

I think OPEL will do a decent job of it, being an open access network it'll certainly give more room for others to play around with. WiMAX does have very low latency so that's nothing to be worried about and speed wise it has a lot of potential that'll get better as the technology matures.

As for the limits well they'll probably be the same as what we have now. ~1 - 100Gb plans.

Quote from jabsy;311316:
I'm at Howard Springs, the exchange is enabled and ADSL is available to most folks through their local RIM. Unfortunately I'm on an older RCM, which can't support DSL, and Telstra wont upgrade it as apparently it'll cost them too much money.

I'm currently putting together a notice to all my neighbours who also hang off this RCM telling them exactly why they can't get ADSL, and why they should tell Telstra to stick their telephony up their arse as companies like AAPT and Southern Cross are sooo much cheaper. A direct price comparison might sway them to move providers?? Who knows??

It'd be piss funny if everybody churned their voice calls to someone else.

Awesome. Definately do it. Post up a copy of the notice here, would love to read it. Hope you the support from your neighbours!

i dont care if the download limit changes

ping decrease is a need for the NT

100 ping while most people get 7 - 12 hmmm

fingers crossed we dont get jibbed.

I just wonder if Optus will get on the bandwagon to bring DSL to NT. Sucks only to sell dialup I can tell you that much

While no one else here other then me would really care about Tasmania I thought i'd point out some good news for TAS in regards to broadband.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=764739&p=1

Is a whole thread there on it. It shows some backhaul changes and how OPEL is to help TAS. Might be thinking how is this relevant to say Darwin well TAS and the NT are the only state/territories (ACT also) that wont be part of the national backbone, mostly due to backhaul i'd guess. But the above thread does point to good intentions to having ADSL2+ rollout here and it's a step in the right direction.

Given Darwin is a long way from everywhere else it's hard to say what will happen, but never know. July 1st Opel is apparently releasing information about its rollout. I do also know for fact that my exchange (Kingston) is being fitted with an OPEL DSLAM too woots.

Would be nice though to be part of the FTTN side of things, but it's a start at least.

it would be nice hey jono but i reckon we might get jibbed again in this deal i just have the feeling.