This week: Gizmodo explains how the NBN will use a combination of high-speed fibre, fixed-wireless (4G LTE) and satellite to blanket Australia.
When the NBN rolls out, it will deliver high-speed fibre to 93% of Australian households. For the rural areas that make-up a further 4% of the population, NBN Co will use a fixed-wireless (4G LTE) network that it’s building with Ericsson. The final 3% of remote Australians will be serviced using satellite.
• On Tuesday, Optus said it’s already begun providing an interim satellite service (6Mbps down; 1Mbps up), as part of its deal with NBN Co. Are you eligible? Keep in mind that come 2015, NBN Co aims to deliver improved satellite service with 12Mbps downloads. [ARN]
• NBN Co is also moving ahead with its 4G wireless plan. It paid $1.3M this week, for more spectrum to round-out its geographic coverage. However, TV broadcasters are concerned the planned LTE network could interfere with free-to-air transmissions. [The Register]
• Still on wireless, Shadow Comms Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, popped by Armidale in NSW, telling Fairfax how alarmed and (incorrectly informed) he was. “When Telstra’s copper wire access gets switched off, the wireless option could only be described as equal to copper wire or could be even worse than current services.” Problem is, the copper network (and thus ADSL) lives on for at least 10 years in areas served by wireless under the NBN. That’s 10 years to progressively extend the NBN out further, and for wireless technology to improve. [Delimiter]
• Elsewhere, over 2000 homes in Kiama, NSW will connect to the NBN when trials begin there at the end of this month. NBN Co is also continuing to deploy fibre in housing estates under construction in Rhodes and Blacktown, Sydney.
• Finally, Internode this week had to downgrade the data limits on some its existing broadband plans — citing a price squeeze brought on by a “powerful monopoly service provider.” Telstra?
Either way, Internode’s statement explaining the changes forecasts how they see the NBN playing out: ” We are at a point…where various market forces (significantly including the pricing models that are required for participation in the NBN as well as the existing underlying wholesale access models that we use) mean that the new world really is ‘all about bundling’.” Indeed. [Internode]