NBN Co's transit network

NBN Co reveals 18 month rollout plan

NBN Co released their new multi-technology “rollout plan” for a forward looking plan of the next 18 months. In their limited rollout plan release, which bares little resemblance or detail previously seen in NBN rollout plans, the company lists the area and the technology planned for use in their 18 month forward plan.

The plan lists on a suburb level, the number of premises NBN Co plans to pass within the next 18 months. It also lists the possible technology types (Fibre to the Premises, Multi-Technology Mix, or Wireless) but does not indicate which (nor how many) premises are covered by which technology.

In usual NBN Co style, the file was published in a stupidly inaccessible format (PDF) — see my complaints here. The official response I got for this format was “to ensure the integrity of our data”… but by exporting the spreadsheet as a PDF, it means the integrity of the data is highly compromised given anyone who wants to do something useful with the data would need to go through a massive amount of conversion needed to get it in a usable format. Given the statement of expectation’s requirement for NBN Co to be transparent, publishing PDF files is clearly just a deterrent for the public to analyse information.

Anyway, I spent a good hour or so putting the data back into an Excel spreadsheet for easier consumption. You can find that here.

Now that I put it all back into an Excel spreadsheet, I was able to do a quick analysis of the technology breakdown (sorta):

Technology Breakdown

Technology Premises
FTTP Only 161,000
MTM Only 1,383,900
Either FTTP/MTM 243,000
Fixed-line Total 1,787,900
Fixed Wireless 126,600
Total 1,914,500

Also — almost seemly as an afterthought, NBN Co reveals at the bottom of their press release that their rollout plan includes 19% underserved areas vs a nation-wide figure of 16%.

NBN Rollout Map: Newcastle (FTTN)

NBN Co releases FTTN map: but doesn’t distinguish between FTTP

A few minutes after midnight, on a dark and cold Monday morning — NBN Co released their latest update to the NBN rollout map showing areas that are part of the Fibre to the Node deployment trial. This was a long awaited update — speculated for a whole week before the map update. A full list of CSAMs can be found at the end of this post.

However, one of the striking issues when you first look at the map is… there’s no way to distinguish between an FTTN and an FTTP area. The following screenshot of the rollout map shows both an FTTP and FTTN rollout. The area labeled “B” is in build phase, and happens to be FTTP… but can you distinguish which technology is used in the other “P” sites?

NBN Rollout Map: Newcastle (FTTN)
FTTN or FTTP? The sites shaded green are a combination of both technologies!

Hopefully, NBN Co will eventually fix it up and let us know which technology is being rolled out in which areas 🙂

(more…)

NBN Rollout Map Screenshot

NBN Co adds remediation to rollout map

In a website update late Wednesday night, NBN Co has added FSAMs (Fibre Serving Area Modules) that are undergoing Telstra remediation to their rollout map — marking them as having commenced “Build preparation”. A full list of FSAMs added to the remediation stage can be found at the end of this post.

In a typical NBN Co brownfields fibre-to-the-premies (FTTP) rollout, NBN Co releases areas for Telstra to replace pits and ducts (remediation) before sending their own construction partners into the area to build and rollout the fibre.

NBN Co has previously indicated that it was their intention to improve the rollout map to make it more relevant and accurate to end users. This addition comes after NBN Co removed around two-thirds of the areas listed as “Construction commenced” after the change in Government, replacing it instead with a build commenced metric. This new “Build preparation” provide more clarity to Australians who may have previously witnessed “NBN work” in their area yet the NBN Co rollout map had not been updated to reflect that.

NBN Co also recently changed their premises passed metric in an attempt to make it more relevant and accurate to consumers and retail service providers.

NBN Rollout Map Screenshot
NBN Rollout in the Penrith FSA, now showing 2PTH-08 in remediation

Brownfields Fibre (Remediation)

(NBS) denotes an FSAM “never before seen” on the construction maps. i.e. not part of those that were removed from the Construction Commenced map in Nov 2013.

  • (NBS) 2BLK-11 — (Marayong, Blacktown)
  • (NBS) 2WLG-07 — (North Wollongong, West Wollongong, Wollongong, Gwy)
  • (NBS) 2WLG-08 — (Wollongong)
  • (NBS) 3SHP-07 — (Mooroopna)
  • (NBS) 4APL-10 — (Taigum, Zillmere, Boondall)
  • (NBS) 4KLG-08 — (Murrumba Downs, Kallangur)
  • (NBS) 4TOB-11 — (Middle Ridge)
  • 2CAM-02 — (Canterbury, Campsie)
  • 2CBT-01 — (Campbelltown, Bradbury)
  • 2COR-05 — (Woonona, Russell Vale)
  • 2COR-06 — (Corrimal, Russell Vale, Bellambi)
  • 2COR-07 — (Tarrawanna, Corrimal)
  • 2DAP-01 — (Kembla Grange, Wongawilli, Horsley)
  • 2DAP-05 — (Marshall Mount, Penrose, Dapto)
  • 2DAP-06 — (Horsley)
  • 2LID-08 — (Auburn)
  • 2LJT-05 — (Bateau Bay)
  • 2LJT-06 — (Bateau Bay)
  • 2LJT-08 — (Long Jetty, Toowoon Bay, Blue Bay)
  • 2MAI-11 — (Raworth, Tenambit, Morpeth)
  • 2MYF-01 — (Mayfield)
  • 2NWR-02 — (Nowra)
  • 2NWR-03 — (Nowra Hill, South Nowra, West Nowra, Nowra)
  • 2PTH-08 — (Werrington Downs, Cambridge Park)
  • 2TEE-05 — (Taree)
  • 2WLG-02 — (Wollongong)
  • 2WLG-03 — (Mangerton, Mount Saint Thomas, Coniston)
  • 2WLG-04 — (West Wollongong, Mangerton)
  • 2WLG-05 — (West Wollongong, Mount Keira)
  • 3BAC-05 — (Darley)
  • 3CBN-05 — (Cranbourne)
  • 3CTN-06 — (Melbourne)
  • 3FSR-06 — (Seddon, Yarraville, Kingsville)
  • 3FSR-08 — (West Footscray, Tottenham)
  • 3KAL-01 — (Langwarrin)
  • 4AAR-02 — (Calamvale)
  • 4AAR-06 — (Calamvale, Algester)
  • 4APL-05 — (Carseldine, Bridgeman Downs)
  • 4APL-06 — (Carseldine)
  • 4APL-07 — (Fitzgibbon)
  • 4APL-08 — (Boondall)
  • 4APL-09 — (Taigum, Boondall)
  • 4BDB-03 — (New Chum, Riverview, Dinmore)
  • 4BDB-04 — (New Chum, Redbank, Collingwood Park)
  • 4CAI-06 — (Manunda, Cairns North)
  • 4GDN-07 — (Bellbird Park, Augustine Heights)
  • 4GDN-08 — (Carole Park, Ellen Grove, Gailes, Wacol, Camira)
  • 4GUL-07 — (Kirwan, Thuringowa Central, Cranbrook)
  • 4IPS-08 — (Yamanto, Churchill)
  • 4NDG-05 — (Wavell Heights, Nundah)
  • 4TNS-07 — (Hyde Park, Pimlico, Hermit Park)
  • 5MOD-05 — (Para Hills, Ingle Farm)
  • 5PRO-02 — (Prospect, Dudley Park)
  • 5PRO-04 — (Collinswood, Enfield, Nailsworth, Sefton Park, Bro)
  • 5PRO-05 — (Medindie Gardens, Nailsworth, Vale Park, Walkervil)
  • 5PRO-06 — (Medindie, Medindie Gardens, Walkerville, Gilberton)
  • 5PTE-01 — (Victor Harbor)
  • 5PTE-02 — (Hindmarsh Valley, McCracken, Hayborough)
  • 5SBY-01 — (Strathalbyn)
  • 5SFD-03 — (Old Noarlunga, Noarlunga Downs)
  • 6APP-01 — (Mount Pleasant, Applecross)
  • 6APP-03 — (Mount Pleasant, Ardross)
  • 6GLT-05 — (Spalding, Bluff Point)
  • 6PNJ-01 — (Pinjarra)
  • 6PNJ-02 — (Ravenswood)
  • 6SPT-01 — (South Perth)
  • 6SPT-04 — (South Perth, Como)
  • 6VIC-04 — (Rivervale, Burswood)
  • 7HOB-07 — (New Town, North Hobart, Mount Stuart)
  • 9QBN-04 — (Queanbeyan East, The Ridgeway, Greenleigh)
  • 9QBN-06 — (Oaks Estate, Crestwood)

 

Senator Conroy SSCNBN

NBN Co changes the premises passed metric

Metric is now more conservative and relevant to service providers

During a Senate Budget Estimates hearing last night, NBN Co revealed that changes were made with respect to the way “premises passed” was defined in the weekly rollout statistics. NBN spokesperson, Andrew Sholl, said off the record yesterday on Twitter that these changes started in April this year and gives a clearer and more relevant weekly figure.

Traditionally, two metrics were used by NBN Co to describe the status of construction of their network — one being Ready for Service and Premises Passed. In the previous metric of “Premises Passed”, premises were considered to be passed once network testing was completed the Local Network servicing a particular cluster of premises. However, only once 90% of the premises are passed by NBN Co’s old metric is an FSAM declared “Ready for Service” and an order may be ordered.

A recent change to the metric has altered the way NBN Co reports the “Premises Passed” metric in it’s weekly rollout statistics. Rather than accounting premises as being “passed” when testing for the Local Network is completed, NBN Co will only account those premises as being “passed” when the local network servicing 90% of the premises in that particular rollout region is built and tested.

This changed metric provides a more conservative and potentially, more relevant metric for consumers and service providers. However, it also means that NBN Co’s weekly run-rate will become more angular as premises will be added in mass, rather than the progressive additions previously seen.

Talking with service providers, it appears that premises considered passed by not yet Ready for Service under previous metrics have remained classified as “passed”. Only new premises being added to the network are affected by this change of metric.

NZ Chrous projected efficiency savings of fibre rollout

NZ aims for at least 75% FTTP, AU stuck at 26%

In a presentation to institutional investors yesterday, Chrous, the leading telecommunications company in New Zealand projected that at least 75% of premises will be connected using FTTP/B by the end of 2020 — in sharp comparison with the 26% planned for the Coalition’s Multi-Technology Mix National Broadband Network (MTM NBN).

In a world where the majority of the world is moving towards a full-fibre deployment to replace existing infrastructure, NBN Co and the Coalition’s policy takes the reverse approach in phasing out an FTTP rollout in favour for a inferior FTTN network topology. Under the MTM model, brownfields Fibre to the Premises rollout will stop by CY2018 with the remainder of the rollout being FTTN-only. This means that under this model as bandwidth demands grow, Australians will be provided an upgraded service without the capacity and capability of delivering the demand needed.

In the contrary however, Chrous NZ and other telcos in New Zealand will be taking the initiative of rolling out Fibre to the Premises to deliver the demands of the present and the future. As indicated by the graph on their second slide, four providers will continue to pass premises incrementally into 2020 — with Chrous leading the way with a stable forecasted rollout rate.

Chorus NZ Investor Presentation: Slide 2
Slide 2: Rollout of Fibre to the Premises continues to ramp up in NZ until 2020

Likewise, while Chrous is projecting continual efficiency savings in building a fibre network, NBN Co denied any cost saving measures can be implemented or found until 2017-18 when the rollout itself will stop. This is again, at odds with worldwide comparisons.

NZ Chrous projected efficiency savings of fibre rollout
Unlike NBN Co, Chorus seems to know how to save money… by finding efficiencies over course of the rollout

Congratulations to New Zealand for recognising that FTTP is the future. Yes, while we have to concede that a Fibre to the Node rollout will happen… the Coalition should really recognise the technological advantage of having fibre to the premises and the extreme reliability and upgradability of the technology. xDSL technologies will continue to limit Australia’s productivity into the future and will always be limited by distance.

Rather than phase out an FTTP build half-way through the NBN build, the network technology should really be ramped up as the demand grows. There is absolutely no logic in their rollout plans, at all.

New Zealand truly deserves to get a 75% FTTP deployment, what a pity no one in power sees the value of it in Australia today.

NZ Chorus FTTP vs rest of the world
While Australia lags, New Zealand will be the leader in high-speed broadband by 2020.