Govt. $1.5b fibre network recipe for disaster – WorldxChange

Nationwide Fibre to the Home service provider WorldxChange claims the government’s $1.5 Ultra Fast Broadband network is fundamentally flawed and won’t deliver the desired outcomes.In a submission to the MED document “Facilitating Broadband Discussion Paper”, WorldxChange CTO Paul Clarkin claims there is significant risk if the government proceeds with the current model.“We understand that such a provocative statement from a telco is likely to create a significant reaction but with $1.5 billion of taxpayer’s money at risk here, we feel obliged to point out the real world issues before any funds are committed to building infrastructure that will not necessarily be commercially viable to operate IP-based services on top of,” the submission reads.WorldxChange currently has over 100,000 subscribers and has been providing IP services for eight years. Clarkin says they have delivered almost four billion VoIP minutes in that time. It is the only telco involved in providing IP services in the FTTH pilot that Telecom and Chorus have rolled out to 16 new subdivisions in the past two years. A model which Clarkin says is similar that proposed by the government in its Ultra Fast Broadband plan (UFB).But no one from the government has spoken to WorldxChange about the experience.“We are the only guys that actually operate a fibre to the home model throughout the country as a pilot with Telecom and so we do know what we’re talking about based on experience,” he told TR.“There are lessons that we’ve learnt from there that we’re more than happy to share with the powers that be in Wellington, I even said in my submission that it was interesting that they hadn’t really elected to come and talk to those of us who are actually already doing what they want to do.”Clarkin believes the UFB is fundamentally flawed because it is only concerned with dark fibre – and companies that deliver IP services will only buy lit fibre. He also says issues of interoperability and standards have not been addressed.Even if the network is built, Clarkin says it’s unlikely a company like WorldxChange would buy access because the price will be too high compared to DSL services – which he believes are adequate for consumer’s needs today.“We’re definitely not against fibre, but we’re also grounded in the real world knowing that if fibre is going to cost me $100 or $200 a month to service a guy’s house and I can buy Naked DSL for $42 I can tell you right now which one my customer’s going to buy off me.”Clarkin says there is an argument for a fibre network to hospitals and businesses – but they already have fibre passing their doorstep. He points out that the North Shore Education Access Loop (NEAL), which was built with by Vector with government subsidy, has had minimal uptake from the schools it was built to serve. “That was a heavily subsidised network rollout, but it’s fair to say the end user customers on the network didn’t have any money to go and buy the services that went on top of it. So there’s not a lot of services running over it, certainly not with us and we were put down as one of the original partners for it,” he says.