Those living in Australia are certainly aware of the ambitious project by NBN Co., which is intended to provide modern fixed land based telecommunication services, capable of carrying the services of tomorrow.
This was a project started by the Labour government under Kevin Rudd. It was innovative for many reasons, amongst them the decision that by the end of the project, all addresses would have a minimal service that would be much better than that available today, preferably over thin glass fibres, and if not through land based radio or satellite.
Passing a telecommunications network throughout a country is very hard. Even today, after decades, conventional companies carrying the plain old phone service don't reach all addresses in the country. This is true in Australia, which is an island-continent, and was also the case when I was working with TeleMalta in the land of our forefathers, which is only a few small islands.
This is no less difficult with fibre, however with the strategic decision to use radio-based technologies, and more recently with the Multi Technology Mix (see below), should lead to the service being delivered in less time, and although the service will be quicker than that possible today with copper pairs and ADSL, it will remain having less potential than fibre.
Those with technical knowledge of telecommunications knows that fibre is the technology of the future. Copper has served us, and served us well, however today we need something better, even if copper has a bit more life in the transition. The driver for this is doubtlessly coming from the internet, multimedia applications and others that are yet to be invented.
In Australia, insiders of the industry spent a few anxious years, while the Liberal/National coalition, then in opposition, from 2010 began threatening to dismantle everything and start anew. After many months, the position changed when Malcolm Turnbull who covered telecommunications for the Opposition, while shouting about waste of money of the project, managed to turn this around to keeping the project with some modifications.
The main decision was that about a quarter of the fibre network still be terminated in homes and businesses (FTTP - Fibre To The Premises), with the rest of the network use copper that is used today for telephony with the installation of road cabinets (FTTN - Fibre To The Node) and on that used for cable TV (HFC - Hybrid Fibre Coax). These technologies are collectively called MTN - Multi Technology Mix. The plan to use land-based radio and satellite was retained.
This change became government policy, after the Coalition assumed office in 2013. I was lucky that where I live in Blacktown be part of the technology of the future, although frustrated that after the fibre was passed in early 2015, today almost a year later work is not yet complete and I can't use the serviceI've been waiting for for a long time.
I won't be drawn into the major political controversies of this, which are whether the MTN will result in
(a)the project be considered completed in 2020 according to the current plans, or whether there will need to be another project to replace the remaining copper with fibre as originally planned,
(b)the total expenditure be less than was originally planned, or be about the same or even greater,
(c)if the MTN will result in the project being completed before when originally planned - a question that can never be answered definitively.
This is not because I don't have an opinion on the matter, as I fully believe the future lies with fibre, with copper can only be considered a transitional technology.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the country has embarked upon the necessary road in the evolution of telecommunications. For many years, one could compare this industry to a cash cow. A strong investment in the future, missing for so many years, is really necessary.
When the primary construction is over, the details and controversies will be forgotten, as people and businesses will be able to use the services of tomorrow, many of them not invented yet, without the problems and limitations of today.
Australia is not the first country to take this step, to begin walking the road of renewal in the telecommunications sector. Today many countries have made big steps in this direction. Even in Malta, this development is being driven by private companies, with Go starting to build a FTTH network in 2012 and aiming to cover the country by 2020, Melita operating an HFC network and Vocafone offering fibre services to companies.
The difference, and difficulty in Australia is the sheer geographical scale of the project, due to the huge distances and the relatively small population. I auger that the work proceeds as and when planned.
Is the NBN coming or what?
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Min jgħix ġo l-Awstralja ċertament jaf bil-proġett ambizzjuż tal-kumpannija NBN Co., li huwa ntenzjonat li jwassal servizz modern tat-telekomunikazzjoni fuq l-art, li jiflaħ għas-servizzi ta' għada.
Dan kien proġett mibdi mill-gvern Laburista fi żmien Kevin Rudd. Kien innovattiv għal diversi raġunijiet, fosthom id-deċiżjoni li jiddeċiedi li mal-aħħar tal-proġett, kull indirizz ikollu servizz minimu li jkun ferm aħjar minn dak li hu possibbli llum, preferibbilment fuq fibri rqaq tal-ħġieġ, u jekk le permezz ta' trasmissjoni bir-radju fuq l-art jew minn satellita.
Li tgħaddi netwerk tat-telekomunikazzjoni mal-pajjiż kollu huwa diffiċli ferm. Anke llum, wara għexieren ta' snin, kumpanniji tat-telefonija konvenzjonali ma jirnexxilhomx jilħqu lill-indirizzi kollha fil-pajjiż. Dan huwa veru fl-Awstralja li huwa pajjiż-kontinent, u niftakar li kien ukoll il-każ meta kont naħdem mat-TeleMalta f'art missirijietna li hija biss ftit gżejjer żgħar.
Dan mhux inqas diffiċli bil-fibri, però bl-għażla strateġika li jintużaw teknoloġiji tar-radju, u iktar riċenti bil-Multi Technology Mix (ara iktar l-isfel), għandu jwassal biex is-servizz jasal fejn għandu jasal f'inqas żmien, anke jekk is-servizz, li jkun aħjar milli possibbli llum bil-pari tar-ram u l-ADSL, għandu xorta inqas potenzjal mill-fibra.
Min huwa tekniku tat-telekomunikazzjoni jaf li l-fibra hija l-medju tal-futur. Ir-ram qdiena, u qdiena sew, imma llum hemm bżonn ta' xi ħaġa aħjar, għalkemm ir-ramm se jkompli ftit ieħor fit-transizzjoni. L-għaġġla għal dan bla dubju ġejja mill-internet u l-applikazzjonijiet tal-multimedja u oħrajn li għad iridu jinħalqu.
Fl-Awstralja, min kien midħla tal-industrija għamel xi snin fuq ix-xwiek, waqt li l-koalizzjoni Liberali/Nazzjonali, dakinhar fl-opposizzjoni, mill-2010 beda jhedded li jħott kollox u jibni xi ħaġa kompletament differenti. Wara ħafna xhur, il-posizzjoni nbidlet meta Malcolm Turnbull li kien ikopri t-telekomunikazzjoni għall-Opposizzjoni, waqt li għajjat bil-ħela ta' flus tal-proġett, irnexxielu jbenġilha li fil fatt jinżamm il-proġett b'xi modifikazzjonijiet.
Id-deċiżjoni prinċipali kienet li kwart tal-fibrijibqgħu jiġu tterminati fid-djar u l-impriżi (FTTP - Fibre To The Premises), bil-bqija tan-netwerk lejn id-djar u l-impriżi juża r-ramm li jintuża llum għat-telefonija bl-istallazzjoni ta' kabinets ġodda fit-toroq (FTTN - Fibre To The Node) u fuq ir-ramm li jintuża għat-televiżjoni fuq il-kabil (HFC - Hybrid Fibre Coax). Dawn it-teknoloġiji jissejħu kollettivament taħlita ta' teknoloġiji multipli (MTM - Multi Technology Mix). Il-pjan li jintuża r-radju fuq l-art u bis-satellita ma ntmessux.
Din il-bidla saret il-politika tal-gvern, wara li l-Koalizzjoni ħadet il-poter fil-2013. Jien kelli x-xorti li fejn noqgħod f'Blacktown ikun parti mit-teknoloġija tal-futur tal-FTTP, għalkemm iffrustrat li wara l-fibra tgħaddiet fil-bidu tal-2015, illum kważi sena wara x-xogħol għadu ma tlestiex u s'issa ma nistax nuża s-servizz il-ġdid, li ilni nistenna għal żmien twil.
Jien m'iniex se nidħol fil-kontroversji politiċi kbar f'dan il-qasam, li huma jekk l-MTM se jwassal biex
(a) il-proġett ikun ikkunsidrat mitmum fl-2020 skont il-pjanijiet preżenti jew jekk fil-fatt wara jkun hemm bżonn proġett ieħor li jistalla l-fibra minflok ir-ramm kif kien originarjament propost,
(b) l-infiq totali jkun inqas milli kif kien ippjanat oriġinarjament, jew bejn wieħed u ieħor ikun l-istess jew anke iktar,
(ċ) jekk l-MTN hux se jwassal biex il-proġett jitlesta qabel ma kien maħsub oriġinarjament - li hija mistoqsija li qatt ma tista' tiġi risposta definittivament.
Dan mhux għax m'għandix opinjoni fuq il-qasam, għax nemmen fis-sħiħ li l-futur jinsab fil-fibra kull fejn huwa possibbli, u r-ramm illum jista' biss jitqies bħala teknoloġija ta' transizzjoni.
Madankollu, għalija fl-aħħar mill-aħħar, il-pajjiż qabad it-triq bżonnjuża tal-evoluzzjoni fil-telekomunikazzjoni. Għal ħafna snin, wieħed jista' jqabbel lil din l-industrija ma' baqra li tinħaleb (cash cow). Investiment għall-futur, wieħed qawwi, huwa bżonnjuż, għax għal wisq żmien dan kien nieqes.
Meta x-xogħol tal-bini prinċipali jispiċċa, d-dettalji u l-kontroversji jintesew, għax in-nies u l-impriżi jkunu jistgħu jużaw is-servizzi ta' għada, li ħafna minnhom lanqas biss ma ġew ivvintati, mingħajr il-ħafna problemi u limitazzjonijiet li jeżistu llum.
L-Awstralja mhix l-ewwel pajjiż li ħadet dan il-pass, li tibda' miexja fit-triq tat-tiġdid tal-qasam tat-telekomunikazzjoni. Illum hemm ħafna pajjiżi li għamlu passi kbar f'din id-direzzjoni. Anke f'Malta, dan l-iżvilupp qed iseħħ minn kumpanniji privati, bil-Go tibda' tibni netwerk tal-FTTH (Fibre To The Home) fil-2012 u beħsiebha tkopri l-pajjiż kollu sal-2020, il-Melita topera netwerk tal-HFC u l-Vodafone joffru servizzi fuq il-fibri lil impriżi.
Li hemm differenti u fl-istess ħin id-diffikultà fl-Awstralja hija l-iskala ġijografika kbira tal-proġett, minħabba d-distanzi twal u l-popolazzjoni relattivament żgħira. J'alla x-xogħol isir kif u meta ppjanat.
Dak l-NBN ġej jew?
1NBN Corporate Plan 2016, Table 2
1NBN Corporate Plan 2016, Table 2
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