High-Speed Broadband: Excess Costs and Opportunity Losses

The National Broadband Network, NBN, is a chance to correct regulatory deficiencies, address broadband network design problems & high costs and ameliorate past strategic mis-steps.

• Gas network providers not leveraging their investment in 'holes in the ground' and high consumer connectivity was a huge strategic blunder.
• Allowing the 80% duplication of cable TV network was a massive failure of Government oversight. It would've been obvious within 2-3 months and should've resulted in quick, decisive action. As was not forcing 'roaming' between mobile service providers.
• The NBN design reflects that Telco Engineers don't do Data Networks well... Exactly the same way you don't build a water, electricity or gas network as if its a phone network (hub-and-spoke).
• The technology choices & network design seem wrong-headed to me. They are not using off-the-shelf commodity hardware, but very expensive 'Carrier grade' offerings with limited scope for upgrade & expansion.

What seems missing in the designs I've seen is redundancy and self-healing...


Optical Fibre is very good for running in 'loops', and the simplest arrangement being 'counter rotating rings'. If one segment is broken, traffic can still reach the other side by going the other way around the ring/loop.

The NBN install will be the main broadband infrastructure and "local-loop" for the next 30-50 years. It's an opportunity that can't be let slip. And one that the public deserves good value for its $43Bn.