Joe Abley
I think that mandating unbundling of the local loop would result in more competition, leading to choice and cheaper alternatives to the Jet* packages that seem to be universally hated.
I guess this depends on what is meant by "unbundling". In some places this means physical access to copper etc, in others it means mandating offering certain classes of access services. In real life mandating physical access to copper by competitors is a dicey proposition; without physically separating the various bits of network there's a lot of scope for conflict and excuses. And for what? A bit of crummy copper that may or may not support a DSL link. Frankly, I don't see DSL over voicegrade copper as the long or even medium term solution to the problem of providing ubiquitous broadband service. At best, it's a stopgap. What's happened in Wellington in particular is that Citylink & Saturn built "next generation" local loops -- cable TV, fibre -- in parallel with the voicegrade copper links. As Richard noted, Wellington is suitable for this -- it's a small geographic area with a fairly high population density. Wellington has also been in the habit of cluttering the sky with overhead cables (the, uh, uneven terrain makes underground cabling difficult for everyone), and Saturn was able to get cable rolled cheaply on existing poles, whereas in other centres such services have had to have been put underground at greater cost. Perhaps what's needed is assistance in building such local loop infrastructure. Not just in terms of assistance in getting capital to do it raised, but in providing an environment where infrastructure can be built easily. The latter doesn't necessarily mean overhead cabling, but say co-ordinating infrastructure development; why do water supply, sewerage, power, gas, traditional telecomms and broadband need completely separate holes? If you're going to dig up a street to replace a water main, how about laying ductlines for some or all of the above? How about if local authorities were required to maintain a register of interest in all street works, and were required to notify all interested parties so that co-ordinated, shared development or maintenance could be done? -- don - To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog