BigPond MD Says Telstra is Best Placed to Implement FTTN Network
There’s a report in The Australian IT section today that has the managing director of BigPond saying that Telstra is the company best placed to implement the $4.7 billion FTTN network being financed by the federal govenment. Of course, he would say this, with BigPond being owned by Telstra and all.
“I can’t see how anybody other than Telstra can build a big, scaled and reliable broadband service for Australia because it is such a hard thing to do. It’s a huge project … it relies on a whole bunch of existing infrastructure and clearly Telstra is the right firm to do that job,” he told the Australian.
Actually, there’s a certain logic to what he’s saying — Telstra is the certainly the company with most experience implementing a broadband network in Australia. What has struck me, however, is how strange it would be for Telstra to win the tender, given it’s a large part of the problem the government is trying to fix.
I’ve felt for some time that in Australia we don’t have so much a capacity problem as we have a Telstra problem. The act of simply unlocking the full capacity of its existing infrastucture would take a considerable proportion of Australian users past the original requirements of the new FTTN network. ADSL 2+ can technically deliver 24mbps, but Telstra has been reluctant in the past to let people actually access more than 1.5mbps. Other ISPs have worked around that limitation, putting their own ADSL 2+ equipment in exchanges and allowing uncapped access to the network (essentially, you can connect as fast as your phone line allows you to connect). In exchanges where other ISPs offer ADSL 2+ services, Telstra has belatedly followed, though it charges about $20 more per month for the privilege of unfettered access.
It’s this very reluctance on the part of Telstra to push the capabilities of broadband that led us to this point, the point where taxpayers’ money in being used to finance a new network outside the purview of the incumbent. It potentially creates a new Telecom under government control (although we’ve heard precious little about how the new network will be run and managed). Wouldn’t it be odd to put the construction of this network in the hands of the company that forced us here in the first place? [The Australian]
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Comments
Let’s give Telstra another grant to behave like a business that cares about what its customers want – that will fix EVERYTHING!
Big, reliable and scalable – certainly not all traits I’ve found BigPond to offer, so what would make them the experts on such attributes?
You couldn’t be more spot on I don’t think – not a capacity problem, but a Telstra problem. That said, Telstra’s capacity problems are well documented too. Funny how so few competing ISPs seem to run into the same roadblocks that the big T does when trying to get basic stuff done.
Good on the Australian for publishing these stories too. I notice that the article makes no reference to an alternative view point. Journalism at its best.
In other news, Australian IT has discovered Google’s Eric Schmidt says Google is the best search engine. Steve Ballmer is also reported as saying “I reckon Windows is the best operating system.” News at 11!
Telstra has huge problems, however i know that when it comes to the late roll out of ADSL2+ it was’t Telstras fault, the ACCC decided that it was anti-competitive if Telstra had ADSL2+ before the other ISPs were ready, Telstra was band from rolling it out untill another service proveder had already started selling it on that exchange.
Having said that i cant understand their prices for broadband and how anyone can justify paying that much, someone at Telstra needs to have a long hard look at that.
I hope Optus/G9 dont get the cash, what happend to the 1 Billion dollars they got for OPLE? what a waist of money! they should get some 3rd party to build it and the government can manage it.
If, you have been one of Telstra’s customers that woke up to them Ripping you and the rest of Australia of, would you sign up for there FTTN? There advertised speed are never what you get.
And there reliability from personal exp, is terrible, disconnected every day morning, even when they say there is nothing wrong with there service. Never going to use them again like most people ripped off by Bigpond.
Oh ha ha – Telstra. This is exactly the sort of lies and bullshit that I’d expect a Telstra big knob to be spouting.
Big pond – When I actually once made the mistake of hiring them – well say on dial up, good connection, fast links, I was able to get 80 meg in a 4 hour session.
Ok doing this for one month, comes to 2.4 Gig.
After exceeding Telstras 300meg download limit, that came to $340.
Useoz – with dial up costs came to $16.
The people in Telstra are pretty consistent in ripping people off, lying, buck passing and giving the run around.
The selling of shares to all the “Mums and Dads” of Australia was a MAJOR con-job.
The people who manage this company have done more to damage the infrastructure and hold back development and to stop the widespread installation of FAST broadband.
If I was the Minsta for telecommunications and the management of Telstra came sucking and sleazing their way into my office, I’d have them all dragged down to the basement, rolled up in carpet and be given the hiding of their lives with a cricket bat.