[AusNOG] OT: Regulator rings the changes for telcos, isps - WARNING, POTENTIAL FLAMEBAIT

Thu Apr 22 10:11:30 EST 2010

"To me this is no more than the government interfering further in a market it doesn't understand, and won't even bother to try."

This seems to be an ongoing observation about the current government. The sooner these cowboys have left the building the better our industry will be, IMHO. I'm going to don my flame suit for a moment and ruffle a few feathers - get those reply buttons ready to express your distaste!

<opinion>I think the NBN is bullshit. There, I said it out loud. Now that I've ruined any potential employment prospects in the AU telecoms industry henceforth, let's continue. I fail to see why we are attempting to replicate networks which are already being commercially deployed. ISPs are installing infrastructure anywhere and everywhere that is commercially viable, because it is in their (or their shareholders) best interests to do so. This is the nature of capitalism. Capitalism is good, mmkay?

Now lets put our high-school English hats on for a moment and juxtapose some discourses :)

The regional back-haul project is costing a fraction of the NBN and will provide tangible benefits to consumers (with increased speeds and reduced cost) far before a consumer is connected to the NBN network. It enables retail ISPs to install competitive infrastructure in areas which have previously been serviced only by the monopoly provider. This is a good thing.

But we we all know this already - so why are we ignoring it completely? Surely retail ISPs with their own infastructure should be excited by the proposition that they will be capable of deploying infrastructure to areas where there is no competition other than Telstra Wholesale? Am I the ONLY one who thinks that this is the opportunity of the decade? Once this fibre is in, you can begin amortizing your DSLAM investment before NBNCo can even put their last-mile fibre in the ground - there is no way they could ever compete with you!

Perhaps if we spent a few billion dollars building a national, regional back haul network capable of servicing major town/transit routes, we would have a national, regulated carriage duopoly: this would encourage independent providers to begin building their own fibre routes in areas where they have previously been unable to justify expenditure due to a lack of return - especially in places like Maroochydore, Darwin etc. Customers that are outside of these regional centers will end up serviced by independent wireless ISPs - these ISPs now have access to competitive carriage some ~200KM away, which is only a few microwave hops away. Capitalism again: if there's money in it, someone will do it.

As far as I can see, if we pursue this avenue, we will end up with the following outcomes:

1. An easily justifiable return on investment for "BackhaulCo" (our tax dollars do not go to waste!)
2. Delivery of high-speed services to regional areas (fulfilling the goals of NBNCo).
3. Does not sever the investment that current providers have put in their own infrastructure (this will make many providers happy)
4. Will most likely (in time) deliver a FTTP network when a commercial provider deems they are able to amortize their investment (or we'll end up stuck with HFC - either way, we get our 100Mbps to the home)
5. Encourages smaller ISPs in regional areas, creating jobs and bolstering the local economy (and keeps me in business)
6. Only marginally pisses Telstra off (could be considered a disadvantage!)
7. Encourages mobile carriers like Voda/Optus to deploy 3G infastructure in rural areas (more healthy competition in these areas and a kick in the pants for the NextG monopoly).
8. Stops Curtis from making page-long rants on a public mailing list (good for AusNOG in general).
</opinion>

AusNOG - tell my why I'm an idiot and I will happily listen.

Regards,
Curtis

-----Original Message-----
From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net on behalf of Michael Richardson
Sent: Thu 4/22/2010 9:29 AM
To: ausnog at ausnog.net
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] OT: Regulator rings the changes for telcos, isps

I think Daniel raises some really good points here. Although it's better
than it was, I feel there are still many telcos that operate not in the
interests of the consumer. As time goes by and the industry matures further,
I think we'll see more unacceptable players being filtered out, and good
providers gaining ground.

If there is a real problem with customer service in an industry, an open
market *will* sort it out. It always has. To me this is no more than the
government interfering further in a market it doesn't understand, and won't
even bother to try.

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 8:55 AM, Daniel Hood <dsmhood at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sorry, the last statement sounded very negative... Not wanting to flame
> SP's.
>
> I don't mind at all having to deal with Telco's either and usually
> defend them, when the "kick your telco" convo's arise. It takes a lot
> of organisation and technical expertise to keep these networks up and
> running as they are and you guys don't have the choice when outages
> arise. A lot of the Aussie SP's are making quite a lot more effort
> then the "let's just scrap by" attempt.
>
> Keep it up!
>
> Regards,
>
> Daniel
>
> On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 1:12 AM, Mark Newton <newton at internode.com.au>
> wrote:
> >
> > On 21/04/2010, at 10:41 PM, Sean K. Finn wrote:
> >
> > Exactly what problem is this fixing? How many rouge network operators or
> > ISP's even exist here?
> >
> > Understand that we have a Government who perceives telcos as enemies
> > who need to be vanquished, and who will use legislation as weaponry to
> > reach that goal.
> > They have a picture in their minds about what an ISP/Telco is supposed to
> > be.  Our industry currently doesn't match that picture, largely because
> they
> > don't know what they're doing and they've just made the picture up.
>  Their
> > world view says that Telcos are lazy and recalcitrant for making no moves
> > towards conforming with that picture over the last two decades, and since
> > we're clearly not going to do it voluntarily they will continue to attack
> > this
> > industry through regulation until we line up with the picture, or
> > until they're
> > made to stop for some other reason.
> > Anyway, it's easy to attack us, because Telcos never fight back.  Free
> kicks
> > all 'round.
> > Fundamentally, they view us as gatekeepers to the network, with a
> > responsibility to control it.
> > From that standpoint, they hold us responsible for our customers making
> > uneducated decisions against their best interests;  For our customers
> > breaching copyright;  For our customers viewing websites that offend
> them;
> > For our customers running insecure malware-infested systems at home.
> > In each instance we say, "We try our best to help them, but at the end of
> > the day we're just conduits, providing internet access. Customers decide
> > how they use it, we have no control over that."
> > And, at a very deep level, this Government simply doesn't agree.
> >   - mark
> >
> > --
> > Mark Newton                               Email:
> newton at internode.com.au
> > (W)
> > Network Engineer                          Email:  newton at atdot.dotat.org
> >  (H)
> > Internode Pty Ltd                         Desk:   +61-8-82282999
> > "Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton"  Mobile: +61-416-202-223
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AusNOG mailing list
> > AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
> > http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
> >
> >
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