[Chapter-delegates] ISOC-AU gives evidence to the Australian Senate

[Tony Hill]

Hi Louise

Many thanks for your kind words and your interest in NBN.

Here are a few resources that may be of interest for general background:

Government policy
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/broadband/national_broadband_network

NBNCo
http://www.nbnco.com.au/

ISOC-AU events
http://www.isoc-au.org.au/

ISOC-AU submissions
http://www.isoc-au.org.au/Submissions/index.html

You ask the following questions:

An other meeting is scheduled in May. If I want to learn everything I  
should know on NBN
- see the above general information.  And please note that, even  
though the Government has announced its policy for the National  
Broadband Network, Australia is still very much debating what the  
network will do and this debate is taking place in many face to face  
meetings as well as submissions.

why is it so expensive?
The plan is to install fibre cable to each premsises in Australia  
(covering 90% of the premises).   Each premises will need fibre cable  
laid to its location as well as an optical/electronic device to  
terminate the network (sometimes called network termination unit -  
NTU).  This new installation will be the same scale as our current  
copper network (the CAN - customer access network for the telephone  
system).

NBN would own 51 % of what?
Government policy says that the Australian government will own no less  
than 51% of the new company established to build this network: NBNCo.   
At some time in the future, the government share in the network  
company will probably be sold to the private sector.

How is NBN dealing with the telcos and cable ops?
NBNCo is likely to deal with telcos as 'retail service providers' or  
RSPs who have customers and buy wholesale services from NBNCo.  The  
'cable' industry in Australia is quite different to North America and  
not on such a large scale or with such a range of services.  Cable  
engineering here is HFC (hybrid fibre coax).  NBNCo is likely to buy  
fibre capacity from other companies, but they are unlikely to buy  
capacity from 'cable' companies because their networks are not 'fibre  
to the premises' or FTTP.

in a very short period of time, what would you suggest me to read ?
Read the government website and the NBNCo website for general  
information.  Then read ISOC-AU submissions for our comments on what  
should be happening.

I hope this info helps.

regards, Tony

On 24/04/2010, at 4:34 AM, Louis Houle wrote:

> Hi Tony,
>
> I just want to thank you very much for this transcript.
>
> Some background
> ISOC Quebec is driving  since 2007 the Quebec Connect initiative  
> that has two goals: provide a toolkit and a turnkey solution for  
> enabling access (for high speed Wi-Fi mainly) and facilitate the / 
> appropriation/ of Internet in rural regions using our value added  
> services (for newcomers, impaired, technicians who want to operate a  
> network, services such accessibilty standardization of a website,  
> etc.)
>
> Even though the QC initiative is a success, we are facing (living)  
> many problems starting with open access to the networks (let's say  
> layer 2), the political divide in the regions (with little  
> understanding of what that Internet thing really is, how it works -  
> at layer 3 - and how it could benefit to the region) and strong  
> actions by incumbents where QC is successfull, etc.
>
> The link
> ISOC Quebec recently met with elected members of the Canadian and  
> the provincial (Quebec) government interested in QC. I found out  
> that they were aware of the NBN model.
>
> The opportunity
> An other meeting is scheduled in May. If I want to learn everything  
> I should know on NBN (why is it so expensive? NBN would own 51 % of  
> what? How is NBN dealing with the telcos and cable ops?) in a very  
> short period of time, what would you suggest me to read ?
>
> Again thank you for this very valuable information
>
> Louis Houle
> President
> ISOC Quebec
> Louis.Houle at isoc.qc.ca
>
>
> Tony Hill a écrit :
>> I was called to give evidence before a select committee of the  
>> Australian Parliament.  They are inquiring on the Australian plans  
>> for our National Broadband Network.
>>
>> Now there is a handsard transcript of the evidence, available as a  
>> proof copy, online at:
>> http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S12976.pdf
>>
>> The evidence includes the following topics of discussion:
>> *  role of ISOC and IETF
>> *  interaction of bandwidth and Internet technology
>> *  key importance of competition policy
>> *  why NBN as a fibre to the premises initiative, should attend to  
>> layer 3 issues, as well as layer 2
>> *  why NBN should pay attention to national implementation of IPv6,  
>> and how this relates to layer 3 vs layer 2
>>
>> I am the first speaker of a number giving evidence on that day.
>>
>> I hope this transcript is helpful to other ISOC chapters and  
>> members.  It is always difficult to find time to talk about the  
>> basics, and I hope this government transcript helps to capture some  
>> of those.
>>
>> Happy to have any subsequent discussion or comments.
>>
>> regards, Tony
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> | Tony Hill                           president at isoc-au.org.au |
>> | President            Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) |
>> | Tel +61 2 6257 5544                               PO Box 152 |
>> | Mobile 041 212 8755          Civic Square ACT 2608 Australia |
>> | Fax +61 2 6262 9938                       www.isoc-au.org.au |
>> |                The Internet is for Everyone!                 |
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
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