Cable Industry News
Cable networks pose a threat to NBN plans
Thursday, 20, May, 2010
A BILLING and operating system upgrade worth $2-3 million could be enough to pretty up Telstra's and Optus's hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) networks for sale to the NBN Co, or make them serious contenders for the nation's most lucrative broadband customers. Both Telstra's and Optus's cable networks, which pass more than 2.6 million premises on the east coast, could be a competitive threat to the high-speed broadband network as they have both been rigged to deliver (in selected areas) broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, the same speeds that will, at first, be available on the fibre-based NBN.
By offering comparable download speeds, industry observers believe cable networks could steal a significant portion of the lucrative metro customers targeted by the NBN.However, to maximise the value of their networks, analysts say both Telstra and Optus would need to open them up for wholesale access, a process that would also make the asset more attractive to the NBN.
