UFB? What do we have already?

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richms

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#80986 7-Apr-2011 01:04

I can find nothing to show that there has been any progress on this since the bribe was announced many years ago now before the last election.

Is there any fiber in the ground as a result of it?

Is there any customers now enjoying a greater speed of connection because of UFB?

Do more schools have broadband?

All I can find to do with fiber looking at news etc is reports, complaints, consultation, concern about things, more reports and discussion? Am I wrong in assuming that all we have is a crapload of nothing?

Richard rich.ms

Ragnor

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#456193 7-Apr-2011 01:19

What's a reasonable time frame in your opinion?

Consider there are many many things that have to be done before new UFB fibre is laid,:

- A truckload of research and planning
- Setting up CrownFibre Co, hiring staff etc
- Changing existing telecomunications law (TSO etc)
- Changing resource consent law
- Reviewing all bids for all regions
- Selecting winner/partner for each region

.. and much more

It's a very complex area.

Would you like the government to not take the time to take in submissions like these below, on the details of the agreements being made?
http://nztelco.com/content/?p=178
http://nztelco.com/content/?p=170
http://nztelco.com/content/?p=156

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richms

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#456195 7-Apr-2011 01:32

I would have like to have seen it done in stages so that there was at least some progress already with remote places getting fiber litup from several providers to CBD's etc.

I think that the way it is being done is doomed. its as if the govt is paying people to set up trucking companies, rather than investing in the roads that the trucks operate on. Why they are even talking about L2 for anything backhaul is crazy IMO.

Richard rich.ms

Beccara

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#456215 7-Apr-2011 08:23

I think i'm going to spend the morning wiriting up a post for a combined UFB thread as people seem to not understand the UFB for the most part.

There is alot of legals going on, the LFC's are only just being formed and the agreements between CFH/LFC and the retailers still isn't finished yet let alone signed by the retailers. This will take another month or so.

As for fibre in the ground, Yes there is some in the ground. Northpower who won Whangarei already had alot of fibre in the ground as they started to build before they won the UFB, They are ramping up deployment and the first major build stage is going to be in a heavy residential area. WEL networks who got a bunch of central north island zones like Hamilton and Wanganui have announced they are starting the Wanganui build soon which they expect to complete in two years. CFH has announced they are in priority talks with Telecom, Central Fibre consortium, Vector and Alpine. I think CFH is taking their time with the rest of the zone's to make sure they cross the T's and dot the I's as Telecom may be selected for this.

Also UFB doesn't cover anything backhaul, It's all about the pipe from the home to the NNI handoff point which is within the UFB zone, Backhaul from there to say Auckland is upto the ISP so not sure where you got UFB and layer 2 backhaul

Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

All comment's I make are my own personal opinion and do not in any way, shape or form reflect the views of current or former employers unless specifically stated

webwat

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#456901 9-Apr-2011 00:14

so you would like to see a staged rollout like in Australia? Remember they are creating another monopoly for themselves...

Anyway Whangarei already has fibre in places (so do places like Pukekohe) and has already started building the new network. Its a 10 year rollout plan, so the actual planning has to be done properly.

I still think that a national Layer 2 "wholesale-only" provider should be setup instead of letting the LFC's operate their own services. The difficulties of trying to encourage competition should not have been allowed to cause revert the market back to vertically integrated monopolies. But competition or regulation *cant* fix the limitations of copper, so NZ certainly needs to do better than the past.

Time to find a new industry!

webwat

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#456902 9-Apr-2011 00:22

BTW, Layer 2 only means they light the fibre by putting electronics on each end of it (or at least one end!) for ISP's to connect their own services and backhaul. Yes backhaul might be crazy but at least there are choices of backhaul in many areas. Filling in backhaul blackspots later would not require the 10 year programme required for the access network, so I'm sure there will be time for debate on that if it becomes a problem later.

We should be pushing for more international fibre now...

Time to find a new industry!

richms

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#457114 9-Apr-2011 22:26

webwat: BTW, Layer 2 only means they light the fibre by putting electronics on each end of it (or at least one end!) for ISP's to connect their own services and backhaul. Yes backhaul might be crazy but at least there are choices of backhaul in many areas. Filling in backhaul blackspots later would not require the 10 year programme required for the access network, so I'm sure there will be time for debate on that if it becomes a problem later.

We should be pushing for more international fibre now...

I think we should have been pushing for more international before wasting money on all this RBI etc that will still deliver low as usage limits. 12 megabit is enough to make a serious dent in the wallet in one day at current pricing.

Richard rich.ms

webwat

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#457134 9-Apr-2011 23:19

Trans-oceanic cables don't take that long to lay if there are only a couple of landing stations. Obviously we are desparate for international bandwidth but that has to be concurrent with building metropolitan networks. Progress on local fibre might even happen in time for some investor to add a few extra cores to the Pacific Fibre project.

Time to find a new industry!