This week was an even shorter working week than last week, but that doesn’t mean the NBN didn’t keep on rolling on its course to superfast broadband inevitability. Full speed ahead, NBN Co!
• Turns out the NBN isn’t just a superfast nation wide network waiting to happen, it’s also a potential thorn in the side for any Foxtel takeover of Austar. Apparently the ACCC may not like Telstra having a part ownership of Austar, because it could mean the Telco could offer a triple play of services and lock out smaller players. We’ll see what happens there…[The Courier Pigeon]
• Who’s going to benefit from the NBN? Everybody! But most of all – according to Gartner – health, education and utilities are going to enjoy it the most. [ARN]
• The ACCC has decided not to regulate Telstra’s wholesale copper pricing because it wants to see how this whole NBN thing plays out. Seems to me they should have been regulating Telstra’s wholesale pricing since… I don’t know… maybe the time Telstra was privatised? [Australian IT]
• There’s a darker side to the NBN – with the rollout currently underway (albeit relatively slowly), there’s an expectation that new estates will see customers end up stuck in “broadband limbo”, with Telstra reluctant to rollout copper that’s just going to be ripped up in a few years anyway. Mental note – don’t buy into a new estate that doesn’t already have fibre. [ABC]
• The next seven Tasmanian towns to get NBN connected were announced this week. Good news if you live in Deloraine, Kingston Beach, George Town, Sorell, South Hobart, St Helens or Triabunna. [SMH]
• There may be hope for people living outside the current fibre rollout plans, with the NBN today announcing that they are trialling a system that sees councils paying for fibre to extend beyond the 93 per cent area NBN has mapped out. Great idea, so long as your council wants to play along. [ZDNet]