The most elevated residential tower in Palm Beach, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/corallo-palm-beach-5-palm-beach-avenue-palm-beach-qld-4221">Corallo</a>, has officially launched this week, however only a handful of buyers will have an opportunity to buy in to the 17-storey project.

The $200 million mixed-use project includes ground floor dining and retail and is considered so valuable its developer, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/changfa-group">Changfa Group</a>, will be staging its release of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses to the market.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=112194 project_image_fid=806]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/colliers">Colliers</a> International, Director, David Higgins, said the development’s location just metres from the beach on the corner of Palm Beach Avenue and the Gold Coast Highway influenced the sculptural design by the acclaimed Plus Architecture studio.

“<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/palm-beach-qld-4221">Palm Beach</a> locals understand the rare opportunity here at Corallo, particularly being the tallest building in the suburb and its proximity to the beach and local restaurants, and they’ve represented the bulk of pre-launch enquiries,” Higgins said.

“The orientation of the apartments captures views of the coastline from Surfers Paradise to Currumbin, and the diversity of floor plans and apartment types provide an exceptional level of choice.

“The first release includes just 59 one-, two and three-bedroom apartments and two half-floor penthouses, with flexible use designed to appeal to both owner-occupiers and investors."

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=112194 project_image_fid=799]

In addition to the ground floor amenity, residents will also have access to a private dedicated wellness level offering 734 sqm of resort-style amenities including a pool, cold plunge, wet deck, steam room, sauna, gym, day bed, fire pit, barbecue area, dining area and yoga/stretch deck.

The project is located within walking distance of Tallebudgera Creek, Burleigh Heads village, Currumbin Alley and Palm Beach Currumbin High School. The Gold Coast Airport is under 10 minutes away.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=112194 project_image_fid=814]

Higgins said Palm Beach remained a hotly contested suburb for home buyers, with prices doubling in the past five years.

“What makes Corallo so appealing to the local market is the diversity of apartment types and pricing, with one-bedroom apartments starting from $841,000 and two-bedroom apartments starting from $1.34 million,” he said.

“The ground floor retail and dining offering will further expand on Palm Beach’s village atmosphere and create a meeting place for locals, and those opportunities for connection are highly valued.”

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=112194 project_image_fid=807]

The on-site sales display, which includes a fully fitted kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, will be open until early works commence in Q1 2026. Each residence at Corallo will feature premium finishes including natural stone, artisanal brickwork, and warm copper accents.

Changfa Group has a two-decade history of delivering premium developments in Australia and internationally, having recently completed its collection of premium townhomes at Lyra, Hope Island, as well as apartment projects in Leichhardt, Carlingford, and Chatswood in New South Wales.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=112194]

Joel Robinson

$200 million Corallo Palm Beach launches with limited apartment release

In a move that aligns with NSW's accelerated planning incentives for affordable housing, developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/the-one-collection">One Collection</a> has revised its Hills District apartment plans, and taken it to the NSW Government, to secure approval.

The developer, which is currently delivering Horizon Hurstville, is seeking to add 80 more apartments to its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-one-castle-hill-16-dawes-avenue-nsw-2154">Castle Hill development</a> near Castle Towers. They already have approval for 280 apartments across eight six-storey buildings.

<img alt="One Collection" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b3c298ba-1cc5-4db7-9872-607c75f8ceca" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-10-13%20at%2010.19.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=wN9KpFIu5ENSGZLLsaZgXQHrXcwEO3Vd" />

Now on the desks of the NSW Department of Planning is 360 apartments, 48 of which will be dedicated to affordable housing.&nbsp;Affordable housing is to be “fully integrated within the building and visually indistinguishable,” according to the planning submission.

The 15,697 sqm block, an amalgamation of 16 sites, spans across Dawes Avenue, Hughes Avenue, and Camdan Crescent, sits 550m from Hills Showground Metro Station.&nbsp;

"The existing context is quickly changing from free-standing homes into residential flat buildings in line with the Hills Showground Precinct planning framework," Place Studio noted.

<img alt="Castle Hill" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3ec24948-c185-48fa-af8b-ed25adf302bf" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-10-13%20at%2010.19.04%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=zNDX.IeRROX1RlDeYcS38xn8w_dqgU2t" />

They said the design was informed by the site's unique condition of having three street frontages and was developed to to respond sensitively to iots surrounding context.

"The design adopted a conventional perpendicular alignment to the primary street frontage. The massing of the development was carefully modulated to align with the evolving character of the neighbourhood. The design ensured that the scale was not excessive or out of context, but instead contributed to a cohesive urban form consistent with emerging developments in the area."

<img alt="Castle Hill" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f83ffdaa-f960-469d-b6fe-abcece57c9ef" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-10-13%20at%2010.19.09%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=4oKlCyfaKes7jLi1_EMoqa46w2h_YvDZ" />

The apartment mix will be 46 one-beds, 168 two-bed apartments, and 146 three-bedroom units, with 631 parking spaces proposed.

Along the street frontages, the building heights are four storeys with a 7.5 metre setback, and eight storeys with an 11.5 metre setback. It should cost about $150 million to build.

One Collection works hand-in-hand with the respected development and construction firm Masscon, which has built a reputation for leveraging its expertise in the built environment to take on developments others can't. That's what they're achieving at Horizon Hurstville, having taken over the project to deliver it.

First look: One Collection advances plans for Castle Hill apartments

At Yarra’s Edge, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mirvac">Mirvac</a>’s newest tower under construction, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/trielle-at-yarra-s-edge-docklands-16-point-park-crescent-docklands-vic-3008">Trielle</a>, sets a new benchmark for elevated living. Rising 45 storeys, 12.5 metres from the Yarra River, the landmark building offers residents access to a private wellness retreat and spa, a resident-only golf simulator, and an elegant lounge, dining and bar complete with a self-playing piano, all without ever having to leave home.

Now, that sense of elevation has reached new heights with the Aerus Sub-Penthouses, a limited release of half-floor riverfront residences on the Collins St axis where the sought-after street meets the Yarra River.

Each Aerus Sub-Penthouse, located across levels 42 and 43, represents the most expansive offering within Trielle, aside from the yet-to-be-revealed crowning penthouses. Spanning between 269 and 301 sqm, these residences are designed to capture natural light and uninterrupted views of the city skyline, Yarra River, and Port Phillip Bay.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114216 project_image_fid=3784]

Among the collection are three-bedroom sub penthouses, complemented by a media room, and expansive four-bedroom layouts. All include panoramic living areas and oversized master suites with luxury ensuites reminiscent of a five-star hotel, complemented by dedicated dressing rooms finished in timber and natural stone.

The interiors have been crafted by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/mirvac-design">Mirvac Design</a>, the developer’s award-winning in-house architecture and design team. Every material has been chosen for quality and longevity, from sculpted stone island benches with feature soft wash LED lighting to bespoke joinery and chevron timber oak flooring.

Kitchens are fitted with a BORA induction cooktop with integrated downdraft extractor, alongside Gaggenau appliances, including a fridge, freezer, and wine fridge. The adjoining butler’s pantry incorporates the exclusive Gaggenau Minimalistic Series including oven, steam oven, microwave, coffee machine and warming drawer, all concealed behind handleless glass panels for a clean, integrated presentation. Bathrooms feature custom Apaisar freestanding baths and basins and natural stone benchtops, continuing Mirvac’s design emphasis on tactile, timeless materials.&nbsp;

<img alt="Trielle at Yarra's Edge, Docklands" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c00be724-b0f1-47c0-afed-54f829870704" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Aerus%20sub-penthouse.png?VersionId=Uktd61kpLSqNjwJeDFs7IaZ3xgLlDQmu" />

Michael Wiener, Design Director at Mirvac, says The Aerus Sub-Penthouse embodies the apex of Mirvac’s design ethos.

“Moving through your home is like walking on air - a private sanctuary where the craftsmanship is refined, the proportions generous, and the flow so effortless, you feel completely at ease in the sky,” Wiener says.

“In Aerus, we wanted to create a sense of weightlessness - a home that feels suspended in the skyline, full of light, grounded in luxury.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=114216 project_image_fid=3777]

The Aerus Sub-Penthouses are expected to attract a mix of local and international buyers seeking a long-term residence of scale and quality in a riverfront setting, from returning expats to established families and business owners who value privacy, craftsmanship, and convenience within walking distance of the CBD.

With an unmatched suite of amenities, Trielle is the most extensively appointed development Mirvac has created to date at Yarra’s Edge. Within the tower will be The Oasis, a 900 sqm podium rooftop wellness retreat designed in collaboration with spa expert Naomi Gregory. Located seven storeys above the Yarra River promenade, it features a 25-metre lap pool, spa and sauna, hot magnesium spa, biophilic gym, yoga and Pilates studio, cold-pail contrast treatment, and day spa treatment rooms. Further amenities include a piano lounge, bookable dining room, cinema room, golf simulator studio, games room, teppanyaki bar, dog wash bay, and two flexible work hubs, The Biblioteca library and Mills Place office space, catering to residents’ evolving lifestyle needs.

Construction of the $350 million tower is underway through Mirvac’s in-house construction arm, with completion anticipated for mid-2027.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=114216]

Sky-high sanctuaries: Mirvac unveils The Aerus sub-penthouses at Trielle

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/jwland-development">JWLand</a>’s De Burgh, the final residential release within the Northbourne Village precinct in Lyneham, is nearing completion just as the Federal Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme prepares for its most significant expansion to date.&nbsp;

From October 2025, the scheme will allow first home buyers to enter the market with just a five per cent deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), removing some of the most common barriers to ownership.

With <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/de-burgh-at-northbourne-village-40-de-burgh-street-lyneham-act-2602">De Burgh</a> on track for residents to move in by late spring 2025, the timing creates a strong opportunity for first home buyers seeking brand-new apartments in Canberra’s sought-after Inner North.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=139989 project_image_fid=212888]

The project delivers 350 residences across two buildings, with layouts ranging from compact studios through to one, two, and three-bedroom apartments.

JWLand has tailored the development for long-term liveability, integrating natural light, privacy and outdoor space into each home. Ground-floor residences feature private courtyards, while upper levels benefit from generous balconies.

Kitchens are fitted with Fisher &amp; Paykel appliances, and all apartments include ducted reverse-cycle air conditioning with smartphone app control for lighting and climate.&nbsp;

Shared resident facilities include a rooftop garden, gym, lounge and parcel lockers, alongside landscaped green space within the precinct.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=139989 project_image_fid=267376]

For buyers, the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme removes income caps and introduces unlimited places, making it more accessible than ever. With most De Burgh apartments priced under $1 million, they fall well within the updated eligibility thresholds.

The policy changes provide first home buyers with greater certainty and a smoother path to finance. Combined with the quality and location of De Burgh, the expanded scheme is expected to draw a new wave of buyers to Canberra’s Inner North.

Residents will benefit from the project’s central setting, just 600 metres from the light rail and three kilometres from Canberra’s CBD. The precinct is bordered by the <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/lyneham-act-2602">Lyneham</a> wetlands and sits within easy reach of cafes, restaurants, schools and the ANU.

With completion scheduled for late 2025, De Burgh is set to be among the first major apartment projects to meet the expanded scheme head-on, offering first-time buyers a realistic pathway to ownership in one of Canberra’s most connected neighbourhoods.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=139989]

JWLand’s De Burgh aligns with expanded Homebuyer Scheme, opening doors for first home buyers in Canberra’s Inner North

A subtropical pair of residential towers are in planning for a key South Brisbane site neighbouring the iconic Expo ’88 Skyneedle, with new documents revealing a vertically layered vision designed to respond to the precinct’s evolving high-density character.

The proposal has been lodged by&nbsp;Darveniza Group, which is also is behind the 400-apartment Station Quarter precinct in Alderley.

Darveniza Group, led by Jane Darveniza, the Brisbane-based investor and Queensland rich-lister and widow of the late property magnate Bojan Darveniza, is seeking approval for a mixed-use project encompassing 204 apartments, ground-level retail, food and drink tenancies, and office space across two architecturally integrated towers at 37–39 Manning Street.

Occupying an 1,822 sqm site, the proposed towers would rise above a sculptural podium base, with a recessed landscaped centre, rooftop communal areas, and a total of 220 car parks and 256 bicycle bays. The apartment mix spans one- to five-bedroom dwellings, with a design emphasis on generous balconies, cross-ventilation, and climate-responsive materials.

<img alt="First look: Twin towers proposed for Manning Street site beside Skyneedle" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="42c1f501-2afd-440b-af49-67c257123ea7" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Manning%20podium.png?VersionId=KFlksfWzmDRD.VIYxd_1q3VAel.nN3TH" />

“The development is conceived as two slender twin buildings that meet at a lushly landscaped central recess,” the Finegrain design report states. “The façade is highly articulated with the plan form stepping back and forth to reduce visual bulk and maximise internal occupants’ access to natural light and air”.

A hallmark of the proposal is its integration of greenery, both visually and functionally. Around 77 per cent of the site’s green plot ratio is delivered through vertical planting spines, a green podium wall, and rooftop amenity. Ground-level deep planting and landscaped communal zones aim to create a shaded, walkable interface along Manning Street.

“The stepped plan form introduces variation in balcony setbacks and enclosed apartment areas, enriching both the façade expression and the resident experience,” the design team notes. “At ground and podium levels, this stepping also enhances permeability, maximising pedestrian view lines to the neighbouring Skyneedle and reinforcing a strong sense of local identity”.

<img alt="First look: Twin towers proposed for Manning Street site beside Skyneedle" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b3f26dfc-6b93-465c-9ffb-0a2530372a23" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Manning%20site.png?VersionId=JflvKdqDxcaHTFbb9HL5TwoiRgeQ2LqA" />

The site directly adjoins the heritage-listed Skyneedle at 35 Manning Street, an enduring legacy of World Expo ’88. The accompanying heritage impact report by Pendergast Architects contends that the proposal has been carefully conceived to protect the cultural significance and landmark visibility of the structure.

“The design provides setbacks, tower separation and podium articulation to maintain the visibility and landmark role of the adjoining Skyneedle,” the report states. “The significance of the Skyneedle lies principally in its landmark visibility and cultural symbolism, rather than in detailed fabric or architectural setting”.

The proposal sits within the Kurilpa Sustainable Growth Precinct, under Brisbane’s TLPI 02/2023, where revised planning controls support high-density, mixed-use development integrated with subtropical design and increased public realm contributions.

Finegrain’s design reflects this intent, drawing cues from the site's adjacency to Musgrave Park, the subtropical landscape of South Brisbane, and cultural landmarks such as QPAC and South Bank.

Twin green towers proposed for Manning Street, South Brisbane site beside Skyneedle

Internet Connectivity

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All Australian homes will have broadband connectivity by 2020, according to a senior executive of NBN Co tasked with rolling out the National Broadband Network which promises to deliver super fast internet.
NBN Co’s chief network deployment officer Kathrine Dyer has said that no premises will be left unconnected by the time the rollout is completed in 2020, according to The Australian.
“There will be a lot of night works, additional traffic management and higher level of consultation with council on land access,” Dyer said.
Nearly 200,000 premises faced lengthy delays connecting to the network despite the fact that the NBN has been rolled out in their neighbourhoods.
These “service class 0” premises, which make up close to 5 per cent of the 5 million or so premises ready to receive NBN service, have been put in the “too-hard ­basket” by NBN Co.
Dyer said some premises had been left in limbo and NBN Co was working to ensure they would not fall further behind.
“This year is the year we look at these premises and start making them serviceable,” she was cited as saying by The Weekend Australian.
Back in 2015, when NBN Co revealed its plan to reach 9.1 million homes by 2018, its chief executive Bill Morrow had said, “This is a bold plan that puts us in striking distance of our ultimate goal of delivering better broadband to every Australian by 2020.
Two years down the line, the project has been marred by delays and criticism. In September 2016, a joint standing committee of parliament was established to inquire into the NBN rollout. 
Dyer said the ­decision to leave some premises behind was due to several factors, not just technology. 
“We had some examples where we would get to multi-dwelling units (apartments) and the body corporate would tell us to come back in 12 months,” she said.
Critics, however, say the decision to bypass homes was more about meeting aggressive rollout targets and keeping costs down.
Recently, Rod Tucker, a telecommunications expert and professor at the University of Melbourne, told the Senate committee overseeing NBN that Australia’s FTTP fibre-to-the-premises connections were costing $4,405 on average and were among the most expensive in the world.
With the rollout entering the metro areas, the next 12 months are expected to be critical for NBN Co as connecting metro suburbs will require significant civil works and better co-ordination between NBN Co and the retail service ­providers.
Dyer said the biggest pain for consumers was a lack of clarity about on where NBN Co’s responsibility ended and the retail service providers took over. 
“We are all on a journey here and there’s a learning curve here for providers and residents,” she said.
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

NBN to connect everyone by 2020: Kathrine Dyer

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Amid all the controversy surrounding slow NBN speeds, a new report shows that Australia is at 55th position for download speeds, behind Estonia, Kenya, Bahamas, Cyprus and Ukraine.
Figures from Cable.co.uk, which used data from M-Lab, show the country lags behind most of Europe.
Australia’s a mean download speed is 7.7 mbps, according to an article in the Herald Sun.
Singapore topped the list with a download speed of 55.13Mbps.
For comparison, a 7.5GB movie can download in 18 minutes and 34 seconds in Singapore while in Australia it would take two hours and 12 minutes based on the mean speed.
Director of Melbourne Networked Society Institute Professor Thas Nirmalathas said Australia’s population could be slowing the country down but internet service providers are partly to blame.
“A big factor is that internet service providers are not keeping up their investment to be consistent with the NBN investment,” he said.
“The NBN debate has been running a long time and other countries have managed to speed up their deployment so that’s why we are behind.”
Professor Nirmalathas said the NBN would improve the connectivity between the home and exchange point but much work was to be done to achieve that.
“You have to be careful when comparing the statistics as we are a vast population and it’s not comparing apples versus apples, but Australia should be able to do better than it is.”
The year-long study collected data from 63 million tests of broadband speeds from around the word.
Recently, another report suggested that if telcos paid just $9.75 extra a month per connection, speeds for the National Broadband Network would vastly improve.
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NBN woes: Study shows Australia lags most of Europe and some African countries in download speeds

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The NBN was touted as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nbn-how-a-national-infrastructure-dream-fell-short-77780" target="_blank">dream infrastructure</a>, and the Coalition says it is close to completing the <a href="https://www.mitchfifield.com/2019/04/nbn-marks-10-years-on-track-for-2020-completion/" target="_blank">A$50 billion national broadband network</a>.
But Australia recently slipped three spots to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/australia-drops-to-62nd-in-global-broadband-speed-rankings-20190428-p51hz2" target="_blank">place 62nd in global broadband rankings</a>, with our average download speed of 35.11 Mbps far below the global average of 57.91 Mbps.
Labor has ruled-out a large scale upgrade of the NBN if it wins the 2019 federal election, saying flaws in the NBN are due to “<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-23/what-happened-to-superfast-nbn/11037620?pfmredir=sm" target="_blank">six years of vandalism</a>” by the Coalition government.
In reality it’s hard to get an accurate picture on the balance of NBN technologies that are already in place in Australia. To get around this opacity, we used the “<a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address" target="_blank">check your address</a>” tool on the NBN website as a way to collect data on the footprints of technologies currently or about to be in place in three Australian metropolitan cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The data suggests around half (40-60%) of homes in the three cities only have access to very old technology: hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC). For people in these residences, access to the so-called “fibre network” remains only a fairy tale.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272670/original/file-20190506-103078-1ki8l6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272670/original/file-20190506-103078-1ki8l6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Around 55% of homes have old NBN technology in Sydney. Green areas represents addresses with fibre technology (FTTX) and red areas represent addresses with older hybrid fibre-coaxial/satellite NBN (HFC/Sat). <a class="source" href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address" target="_blank">Tooran Alizadeh</a>, Author provided
Real data on the NBN
Lack of data transparency is a vexing aspect of the NBN. In our experience, <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/" target="_blank">NBN Co</a> does not disclose meaningful information on service footprints in a single, usable dataset. This makes it difficult to evaluate outcomes and perform policy analysis associated with the service.
Nevertheless, our latest research has collected some data we believe was undisclosed previously.
Over December 2018 to February 2019, we used the “<a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address" target="_blank">check your address</a>” search function on the NBN Co website along with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596118300363" target="_blank">basic data mining techniques</a> to extract data from a representative sample of all addresses across the three metropolitan regions of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
We uncovered footprints of mixed-technology NBN, including current or planned fibre to the premises (FTTP), fibre to the node (FTTN), fibre to the building (FTTB), fibre to the curb (FTTC), hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), fixed wireless and satellite (Sky Muster).
Here we mainly focus on hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), which is the oldest technology component of the NBN. HFC is the cable network you might have connected to in the past to get Foxtel subscription TV.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272691/original/file-20190506-103053-1a3f2e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272691/original/file-20190506-103053-1a3f2e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Around 42% of homes have old NBN technology in Melbourne. Green areas represents addresses with fibre technology (FTTX) and red areas represent addresses with older hybrid fibre-coaxial/satellite NBN (HFC/Sat). <a class="source" href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address" target="_blank">Tooran Alizadeh</a>, Author provided
Major cities rely on HFC
The three maps shown here represent the spatial presence of fibre infrastructure versus more inferior HFC/satellite NBN in three metropolitan regions of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (In reality very few urban homes use satellite, as shown in bar graphs below).
The three maps suggest inferior NBN technology is in abundant use across all three metropolitan cities. 62% of all addresses in the greater Brisbane region, 42% of all addresses in Melbourne, and 55% of all addresses in Sydney are (or will soon be) connected to the NBN via HFC.
These figures are at odds with a recent claim by Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield that his government is rolling out “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/abcqanda/videos/418015455660247/?comment_id=10155958137691831&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D" target="_blank">a new network</a>” to the whole nation. For about half of the addresses in three major Australian metropolitan regions, the NBN “rollout” looks like a re-branding exercise using an old cable network.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272692/original/file-20190506-103057-1k0iwn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272692/original/file-20190506-103057-1k0iwn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Around 62% of homes have old NBN technology in Brisbane. Green areas represents addresses with fibre technology (FTTX) and red areas represent addresses with older hybrid fibre-coaxial/satellite NBN (HFC/Sat). <a class="source" href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-home-or-business/check-your-address" target="_blank">Tooran Alizadeh</a>, Author provided
Socioeconomic patterns of the NBN
To look at socioeconomic patterns of the NBN rollout, we used the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2033.0.55.001" target="_blank">Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) socio-economic indexes for area (SEIFA)</a> and its index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) from 2016. We then cross examined the SEIFA data (divided into ten ranked groups known as “deciles”) with the NBN data extracted via the data mining exercise (described above).
It’s clear in the graphs below that a mix of both old and new technologies are in play across the three metropolitan regions of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The analysis did not find any clear socioeconomic patterns comparing better-off SEIFA deciles of 8-10 versus worse-off deciles of 1-3. Nevertheless, the size of HFC adoption across the socioeconomic spectrum in all three major cities is quite concerning.
<hr>
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272949/original/file-20190507-103057-jeqzts.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272947/original/file-20190507-103078-rngyi4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272950/original/file-20190507-103063-3hwc3g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Availabilities of different technologies across different socioeconomic deciles (1 = lowest socioeconomic status, 10 = highest) in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. NBN technologies are FTTP (fibre to the premises), FTTN (fibre to the node), FTTB (fibre to the building), FTTC (fibre to the curb) and the older HFC (hybrid fibre-coaxial) and Sat (satellite).
<hr>
The second most dominant technology in the three major cities is fibre to the curb (FTTC). This is a technology that <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-08/nbn-launches-fibre-to-the-curb-technology/9631262" target="_blank">was only added to the mix 12 months ago</a>, as a partial solution <a href="https://www.afr.com/technology/web/nbn/nbn-halts-hfc-rollout-effective-immediately-as-issues-mount-20171127-gztg2i" target="_blank">in response to the mounting issues related to the HFC network</a>.
If it was not for this late addition to the network, the NBN footprint may have had an even higher dominance of old HFC technology than currently. It’s also clear that the rate of FTTC adoption in greater Brisbane is well below that in Melbourne and Sydney.
An NBN upgrade is inevitable
Since the announcement of mixed-technology NBN, experts have <a href="https://delimiter.com.au/2015/11/30/budde-says-he-warned-turnbull-about-optus-hfc-cable-issue/" target="_blank">warned against</a> the serious shortcomings of the old HFC technology.
While these were mostly ignored initially, Bill Morrow (then CEO at NBN) later admitted that NBN speed was slowed by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/27/nbns-speed-slowed-by-reliance-on-copper-network-its-ceo-admits?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank">reliance on copper network</a>. Supporting this, an analysis by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (<a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/" target="_blank">ACMA</a>) revealed that the average household on the HFC network was reporting between <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/-/media/Consumer-Interests/Report/PDF/Migrating-to-the-NBN--The-consumer-experience--Key-findings-from-analy-pdf.pdf" target="_blank">2 to 3.6 times more faults than those on fibre, and making between 3 and 5 times more complaints</a>.
It’s also been reported that about <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/no-bells-or-whistles-labor-keeps-it-simple-with-its-nbn-plan-20190409-p51cce" target="_blank">40% of the NBN is fibre to the node (FTTN)</a> which has its own <a href="https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-reveals-fttn-premises-that-never-hit-25mbps-peak-speeds-516849" target="_blank">fair share of issues</a>.
Interestingly, there have already been some partial upgrades within NBN Co’s plans, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/no-bells-or-whistles-labor-keeps-it-simple-with-its-nbn-plan-20190409-p51cce" target="_blank">as FTTC reportedly accounts for about 12% of the national network</a>, to serve the areas that were previously assigned to receive HFC.
Having said this, Labor’s latest announcement seems to be focusing on what can be described as “improving consumer experience” <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/no-bells-or-whistles-labor-keeps-it-simple-with-its-nbn-plan-20190409-p51cce" target="_blank">without making any commitment for more fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), or at least more fibre</a>.
We argue that for Australia and Australian major cities to be competitive on the global platform, an NBN update is inevitable.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115131/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Tooran Alizadeh, Senior Lecturer in Urbanism, Sydney Research Accelerator (SOAR) Fellow, University of Sydney
Edward Helderop, Postdoctoral researcher, Arizona State University
Tony Grubesic, Professor, Arizona State University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/around-50-of-homes-in-sydney-melbourne-and-brisbane-have-the-oldest-nbn-technology-115131" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Around half of homes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have the oldest NBN technology

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The National Broadband Network (NBN) should be built and fully operational by 2022, having cost about A$50 billion. The question will then be whether the government should retain the NBN or sell it off.
The current government has laid the groundwork for NBN to be broken up and sold off. But this could end the NBN’s positive disruption of the telecommunications market, which includes lower prices, increased competition, improved access for consumers and more services being offered.
In a recent paper I outlined four options for the NBN:
<ul>
<li>government retains the NBN</li>
<li>sell NBN as a single entity</li>
<li>disaggregate NBN technologies and sell them separately</li>
<li>disaggregate NBN technologies, excluding satellite and fixed wireless, and sell off separately.</li>
</ul>
Breaking up the NBN could result in the creation of geographic monopolies, hurting rural and regional consumers especially.
Telstra’s recent decision to hive off its infrastructure into separate companies gives Australia the opportunity to do what New Zealand has done: create a new, publicly listed company that contains the NBN and parts of Telstra’s infrastructure.
But there is a valid argument for the government to retain NBN Co. as a government enterprise beyond the NBN rollout.
The NBN has brought about an unprecedented period of positive change in the telecommunications market. But there is more to be done, including a further reduction in the digital divide between urban and regional and remote areas, and upgrading from fibre to the node to fibre to the curb or fibre to the premises.
By retaining ownership of the NBN for the next decade, the government could provide a stable level playing field upon which the telecommunications market can thrive.
For the major carriers, the focus over the next decade will be to build competing 5G networks. The sale of the NBN during this time could return the industry to the chaos that existed before the NBN.
Who would buy the NBN?
The first major concern for anyone buying part of the NBN is the A$15 per customer per month paid to Telstra for a majority of the fixed connections to the NBN.
This is a payment for the use of Telstra’s existing infrastructure, such as the ducts that run along streets and the telephone exchanges where NBN systems are now located.
This payment is a major impediment to the NBN having a successful business model. There is some doubt whether Optus, Vodafone or TPG would bid for part of the NBN knowing that they would be required to make a monthly payment to Telstra for most of the customers they connect.
Telecommunications networks are a “natural monopoly”, similar to roads, rail, gas and electricity. This is because of the high startup costs of building the networks, especially for the segments closest to homes and businesses (also known as the last mile).
In high-value urban areas it is possible to build financially viable infrastructure that competes with incumbents. But this does not solve the problem of competition in lower-value outer urban, regional and remote areas.
No solution to this problem has been forthcoming. This is one of the reasons the NBN came into being in the first place.
How do you break up the NBN?
Outside of the high-value urban areas there is no guarantee of infrastructure-based competition, so regulation is required to ensure broadband in those areas keeps up with what is offered in the high-value urban areas.
The government has already introduced a levy to subsidise the cost of providing broadband in regional and remote areas. But more needs to be done to ensure regional and remote telecommunications is improved continuously.
Breaking up the NBN will also likely result in smaller geographic monopolies, with different technologies used in each network – fixed wireless, satellite and transit etc.
So rather than have one infrastructure monopoly (NBN Co.) wholesaling products and services, we could end up with the bigger telcos becoming monopoly providers by purchasing one or more of the technology footprints.
Consumers, especially those in regional and remote areas, will likely be hit with steep price rises with the end of uniform national wholesale pricing.
The New Zealand option
Telstra has announced that it is creating a standalone company called InfraCo, that will be:
"accountable for our copper and HFC networks; all our fibre network that is not dedicated to supporting mobiles; all ducts, pits and pipes; property including exchange buildings and data centres; and international and domestic subsea cables. These assets will be combined with Telstra Wholesale and the teams in Telstra Operations that provide services to NBN Co."
This provides Telstra with the opportunity to participate in the future sale of the NBN. Telstra could spin off InfraCo as a separate ASX-listed company, take on infrastructure investors for a future purchase of the NBN, or part of the NBN, and effectively follow what happened in New Zealand with Telecom New Zealand becoming Spark (retail/mobile) and Chorus (wholesale).
If Telstra splits into two ASX-listed companies so that InfraCo can purchase the NBN, the result would be a company with about A$10 billion in revenue and A$30 billion in infrastructure assets. This would be a viable company that is able to service the government debt repayments while making a reasonable return to shareholders.
It is likely this outcome would be more palatable to the rest of the telecommunications industry because the positive disruption to the market caused by the NBN would continue.
If the NBN is sold off, the focus must shift to the telecommunications legislation and regulations, setting a minimum broadband connection speed and capacity that infrastructure wholesalers are to provide without penalty, and focusing on how to further reduce the digital divide between urban and regional and remote areas.
The key for a future government decision on what to do with the NBN is that it should not be considered in isolation. There are a number of linked issues, including the universal service obligation, universal access, foreign ownership restrictions and wholesale competition.
Mark A Gregory, Associate professor, RMIT University
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-be-done-with-the-nbn-in-the-long-run-99294" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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What should be done with the NBN in the long run?

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GUEST OBSERVER
Malcolm Turnbull is now connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN) at his Point Piper home on a 100 megabits per second (Mbps) plan, it was revealed in Senate Estimates yesterday. But only because his department intervened to avoid delays affecting other customers.
And while the Prime Minister might be happy with his NBN connection, that’s not the case for the 2.5 million customers waiting on a connection through their pay TV or cable service who have been left in limbo.
Lauded in the 2009 Commonwealth Budget as the single largest nation building infrastructure project in Australian history, the NBN is at risk of becoming an expensive white elephant in our cities. Years of political interference, poor technology decisions and a monopoly business attitude have damaged the brand.
Rather than meeting its objective of connecting 90% of homes and workplaces with broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps, the NBN is looking more like a giant sponge. It soaks up public infrastructure dollars and returns high prices, long delays, unacceptably slow data speeds and service standards that are now the subject of an ACCC investigation.
As a result, a growing number of competitors are bypassing the NBN by undercutting prices and beating performance standards.
Adelaide bypasses the NBN
The latest challenge to the NBN came after South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill denounced the “very poor NBN outcome” and last week announced A$35 million in funding for an Adelaide fibre network alternative if he is reelected in March 2018.
The plan was warmly welcomed by Mighty Kingdom, an app and games developer who told the ABC, “I don’t have what I need to get me to the rest of the world.”
This follows news announced last year that Adelaide City Council is working with TPG to deliver an NBN-alternative broadband service to local businesses. The service promises fibre internet up to 100 times faster than the NBN, at lower prices, and with no installation costs for city businesses or organisations.
Lord Mayor Martin Haese said: "This technology will be a game changer for the city of Adelaide. It will be a boom for local businesses and other organisations, but will also attract business from interstate and across the globe."
NBN alternatives for Melbourne homes and businesses
Meanwhile two aggressive startups in the Melbourne market are hoping to take a serious bite from NBN’s lunch.
Lightening Broadband is connecting homes and businesses using microwave links capable of delivering both 100 Mbps download and upload speeds. That’s better than the comparable NBN Tier 100, which offers 90 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload speeds.
The company is constructing microwave transmitters on tall buildings, connected to the telco’s core network using microwave links. Customers within a two-kilometre radius share a microwave transmitter, requiring a dish on their roof.
Another telco start-up, DGtek is offering its customers a full fibre alternative service.
Upon its launch in 2016, DGtek’s founder David Klizhov said: “Ideally the NBN would have worked if it was fibre to the home, but it’s taken quite a lot of time and we thought that we could have a go at the Australian market using technology that’s been implemented already overseas.”
DGtek uses Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON) and runs it directly into tightly packed homes with the dense population of inner Melbourne. As a sweetener, DGtek offers free internet service to government organisations – such as schools and hospitals – in areas they service.
The threat from 5G and other new technologies
New entrant competition is not the only threat to NBN Co. Optus and Telstra are both launching 5G services in 2019. This represents a quantum leap in wireless technology that could win away millions of current and potential NBN customers.
While Vodafone CEO Inaki Berroeta has said that 5G is unlikely to replace the NBN in Australian homes, Optus Managing Director of Networks Dennis Wong recently told BIT Magazine:
"Everyone has heard of concepts like self-driving cars, smart homes, AI and virtual reality, however their full potential will require a fast and reliable network to deliver. Seeing 5G data speeds through our trial that are up to 15 times faster than current technologies allows us to show the potential of this transformative technology to support a new eco-system of connected devices in the home, the office, the paddock and in the wider community."
5G is not the only technological game changer facing the NBN. iiNet in Canberra has launched its Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL2) as its own superfast network.
According to iiNet, it is made up of fibre and copper and provides a faster connection than ADSL and most NBN plans. The network is independent from Telstra and differs to NBN in that iiNet’s VDSL2 network uses its own copper lines.
Levelling the field for smaller players
The huge capital requirements of rolling out telecoms infrastructure has always acted to deter more competition in the Australian market. But following a regulatory decision of the ACCC in 2017, smaller entrants can now enjoy cost-based access to some of the largest networks – including Telstra, TPG and Opticom – allowing them to better compete both with the big telcos, and with the NBN.
By providing access to superfast broadband access service (SBAS) and the local bitstream access service (LBAS), new entrants will be able to sell NBN-like fixed line superfast broadband wholesale.
So where to for the NBN?
Yesterday the government released a working paper forecasting that demand for bandwidth will double for households with high internet usage over the next decade. The report also suggests that the NBN is equipped to meet those needs.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92275/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">However, cost, technology and customer service problems continue to threaten the commercial success of the NBN. Without a radical rethink, it is doomed to fail its initial mission.
Allan Asher, Visitor, Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) &amp; Chair of Foundation for Effective Markets and Governance, Australian National University.
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nbn-faces-irrelevance-in-cities-as-competitors-build-faster-cheaper-alternatives-92275" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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NBN faces irrelevance in cities as competitors build faster, cheaper alternatives: Allan Asher

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/81823/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
GUEST OBSERVER
We often think of the internet as a levelling, democratising technology – one that extends access to knowledge, education, cultural resources and markets. 
But the net also reflects the social and economic divides we find offline.
Released this week, the second report of the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) reports on data covering four years of local online participation across three dimensions: online access, digital ability and affordability. Together, the three dimensions produce a digital inclusion score. 
Since 2014, when data was first collected, Australia’s overall digital inclusion score has improved by 3.8 points, from 52.7 to 56.5. In 2016–2017 alone, Australia’s score rose by 2.0 points, from 54.5 to 56.5. 
But there is still a “digital divide” between richer and poorer Australians. In 2017, people in our lowest income households (less than A$35,000 per year) have a digital inclusion score of 41.1, which is 27 points lower than those in the highest income households (above A$150,000) at 68.1. 
When the three dimensions are considered separately, the measures of access and digital ability show consistent improvement from 2014 to 2017. However, the affordability measure has registered a decline since the 2014 national baseline (despite a slight bump in the past 12 months).
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/08/04/file-20170731-22047-2dilgb.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/08/04/file-20170731-22047-2dilgb.jpg" alt="">
Online access and digital ability have increased since 2014, but affordability has dropped. <a class="source" href="https://digitalinclusionindex.org.au/" target="_blank">Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2017</a>, Author provided
<h2>The cost of being connected</h2>
Affordability is a key dimension of digital inclusion. 
Internet connectivity is important for accessing a wide range of education, government, health and business services. A decline in internet affordability means Australians on fixed or low incomes risk missing out on the benefits of digital technologies, and falling further behind more connected Australians.
The ADII shows that the cost of data — for both fixed and mobile internet — has declined over 2014-2017. These findings are in line with the ACCC’s ongoing monitoring of prices for telecommunications services, which indicate an average decline in real terms of 3.1% since 2006.
However, when we measure affordability, we are not only looking at the cost of data; we are also interested in what proportion of household income is being dedicated to this service. 
The affordability problem with the internet is different from other key household services where there are price pressures, such as electricity and water. The residential consumption of energy has grown very slowly over the last decade, but prices have increased sharply. 
With the internet, while we are now getting more data for our dollar, our demand for data has dramatically increased. 
A recent report from the Commonwealth Bureau of Communications and Arts Research (BCAR) tracks the affordability of phone and internet use since 2006.
The BCAR report finds that, overall, phone and internet affordability has improved since 2006. However, their data also shows that almost all the gains occurred before 2013, and that, since then, affordability has declined or flat-lined. Further, BCAR’s data suggests that the lowest income households in Australia are now spending almost 10% of their incomes on internet and communications services. In contrast, middle income households are spending around 4% of their disposable income on these services, and for wealthier households, the figure is less than 2%.
<h2>Increasing reliance on mobile</h2>
Some recent and far-reaching changes in our use of technology are evident here: the extent to which the internet has become an integral part of everyday life, the fact that we are spending more time online, and we are doing an increasing range of activities online. In many households, we are also connecting with more devices. 
However, the problem of affordability also reflects another recent development that the ADII highlights: one-in-five Australians now only accesses the internet through a mobile device — and we know that mobile data is considerably more expensive than fixed broadband on a per gigabyte basis. 
Mobile-only use is correlated with a range of socioeconomic factors. The ADII data shows that people in low income households, those who are not employed, and those with low levels of education, are all more likely to be mobile-only.
Despite the benefits of mobile internet, this group is characterised by a relatively high degree of digital exclusion. In 2017, mobile-only users have an overall ADII score of 42.3, 14.2 points below the national average (56.5).
<h2>Digital inclusion is unequal</h2>
In the 2017 report, the ACT, followed by Victoria and New South Wales, are the highest scoring states in the overall digital inclusion score, as they were in 2016. Tasmania remains the lowest scoring, followed by South Australia. 
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/08/04/file-20170731-22140-1xhre2r.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/08/04/file-20170731-22140-1xhre2r.jpg" alt="">
Australia’s national digital inclusion score in 2017 is 56.5, but varies from state to state. <a class="source" href="https://digitalinclusionindex.org.au/" target="_blank">Australian Digital Inclusion Index</a>, Author provided
The lowest scoring socio-demographic groups in 2017 were households earning less than A$35,000 per year (overall score of 41.1), Australians aged over 65 (overall score of 42.9) and those with a disability (overall score of 47.0). 
The ADII uses data derived from Roy Morgan Research’s ongoing, weekly Single Source survey of 50,000 Australians. These are extensive, face-to-face interviews, dealing with information and technology, internet services, attitudes, and demographics. 
Calculations for the ADII are based on a sub-sample of 16,000 responses in each 12 month period. The index is a score out of 100: the higher the overall score, the higher the level of digital inclusion. An ADII score of 100 represents a hypothetically perfect level of access, affordability, and digital ability. A score of 65 or over is regarded as high; one below 45 as low. 
<h2>A focus on improvement</h2>
An increasing number of Australians are online, but although the costs of data and devices are falling, there is a risk that issues of affordability will leave some of our most vulnerable behind. 
Australians with low levels of income, education and employment are consistently less connected than the rest of the population, with consequences that will become increasingly serious as the digital transformation of government and the economy proceeds.
As an increasing number of essential services and communications move online, the challenge to make the Australian internet more inclusive is becoming more urgent. Affordability is a key area for attention, but so is improving Australians’ digital ability. 
The issue of affordability suggests a range of possible areas for useful policy intervention. If we think it important to subsidise essential utilities such as electricity for low-income Australians, we may need to consider whether an allowance for internet access for essential services might also be necessary.
For the large number of lower-income Australians who rely entirely on mobile devices for internet connections, we will also need to consider new ways to support digital inclusion. These could include unmetered access to essential health and social services, and the further development of secure, public access wi-fi.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/julian-thomas-393391" target="_blank">Julian Thomas</a> is Director, Social Change Enabling Capability Platform, RMIT University and author for <a href="https://theconversation.com/au" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Lack of internet affordability may worsen Australia’s digital divide

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/74611/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">GUEST OBSERVER
The latest complaints about the National Broadband Network (NBN), including concerns about slow download speeds and frequent dropouts, show that all is not well with the NBN.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also flags Australia’s broadband speeds as among the worst in the OECD, beating only Mexico, Chile and Greece in terms of internet speed and penetration.
This raises questions on NBN’s continued use of fibre to the node (FTTN) over a large proportion of the total NBN footprint.
When the coalition government came to power in 2013, it instructed a new NBN management team to stop rolling out fibre to the premises (FTTP) and instead build a multi-technology-mix (MTM) version of the NBN.
But, as predicted, it is becoming clear that the FTTN component of the network is inadequate for Australia’s future needs.
Who’s to blame?
NBN chief executive Bill Morrow has deflected some of the blame for low speeds away from NBN and onto retailers, suggesting that their networks might not be up to the task.
He has correctly pointed that part of the problem is that many customers are opting for cheaper, slower services rather than the more costly faster ones.
In defence of its network, NBN points out that existing slow-speed ADSL services dominate the speed data quoted in the OECD report. It suggests that rolling out the NBN out across the entire country will help to improve Australia’s broadband ranking.
But this argument ignores any future developments in other OECD countries. There are numerous broadband initiatives in the OECD, and many of these initiatives use FTTP networks, which offer much higher speeds than FTTN.
Faster speeds overseas
Worldwide, the proportion of fixed broadband services using FTTP has increased by 77% in the past year and those using copper, such as FTTN, have decreased by 11.6%.
While the OECD and the rest of the world are moving forward with ramped-up FTTP deployments, Australia is moving backwards with its continuing rollout of FTTN.
New Zealand, for example, currently sits three places ahead of Australia in the OECD report. But in New Zealand, the telco and internet provider Chorus is installing FTTP around the country.
It announced in September last year gigabit-per-second services across its fibre footprint, starting at a wholesale price of NZ$60 (A$55) per month. This follows the announcement of gigabit services in Dunedin in 2015.
In Spain, more than one-third of customers have access to FTTP and this fraction is growing. A similar surge in FTTP connections is taking place in France.
In the United States, fibre rollouts are expanding, and countries such as Sweden and Finland already have a large penetration of fibre in their networks. Many countries in Southeast Asia either have rolled out, or are rolling out, high-speed FTTP networks.
One of the reasons why FTTP deployments are expanding worldwide is that newer construction techniques and cabling technologies are driving down the cost of FTTP.
Enter Fibre to the Curb (FTTC)
NBN Co announced last September that it will roll out Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) to around 700,000 premises originally slated to use an upgraded version of the Optus HFC network.
FTTC is a relatively new technology in which fibres link the local telephone exchange to small existing pits in the street, outside a home or business. FTTC potentially provides speeds in excess of 500 Megabits per second.
Up to the pit, FTTC is essentially the same as a FTTP. The key difference is that in FTTC, a small waterproof electronic box in the pit connects the fibre to the existing copper wires that run into the home.
But FTTC is largely untested in large deployments such as Australia’s NBN. So a rollout of FTTC will carry a degree of technological risk.
NBN says it will cost about A$2,800 to roll out FTTC to each premises, which is only $630 more than FTTN. Like FTTP, the cost of rolling out FTTC will decrease over time using newer construction techniques. FTTC and FTTP are both becoming more cost competitive.
With speeds as much as ten times higher than FTTN, FTTC has the potential to improve Australia’s rankings in broadband speeds and accelerate Australia’s transition into the digital economy. These were the original objectives of the NBN.
In a blog post, NBN’s chief network engineering officer, Peter Ryan, says that FTTC and FTTN are closely related, and uses this premise to paint a picture of how easy it will be to upgrade from FTTN to FTTC.
But FTTC has a natural relationship to FTTP and not to FTTN. In FTTN, fibres feed a cabinet on the side of a road that is connected to nearby 240-volt power lines. The power supplies backup batteries and banks of electronics that connect to the premises via the existing copper wires.
In FTTC (and FTTP, for that matter) the expensive powered node is not needed, meaning that the cabinets in the street could have to be trashed when FTTN is upgraded.
In an attempt to bolster its arguments for FTTN, NBN has asserted that those cabinets are “an extremely valuable asset … which can be used for a range of purposes”. But it is very hard to imagine what these purposes could be.
Taking stock
Despite the excitement over FTTC, it’s getting harder to cancel contracts for FTTN and move to a more sensible strategy.
Ryan points out it’s not possible to “tear up 18 months” of FTTN planning as that would only delay some connections for two to three years.
Rod Tucker is a Laureate Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne, in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rod-tucker-2000" target="_blank">here</a>.
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The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

The latest real estate & off the plan properties & news, delivered to your inbox.