SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the when-will-the-happen-everywhere-else dept.
News of a possible cut in broadband fees to cheer up our Australian members:
A bunch of Australian fixed telephony and broadband users are about to suffer under a regime of lower prices.
In spite of communications minister Malcolm Turnbull's 2014 assertion that lower prices are against consumer's interests, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has told Telstra to cut its wholesale fixed network access prices. The decision calls for across-the-board fixed network wholesale price cuts of 9.6 per cent.
The draft decision sets prices for seven access services from October this year until 30 June 2019. Those wholesale services include fixed line telephony and wholesale access to Telstra's copper for broadband access – for example, the “naked” copper that competitive ISPs connect to their own DSL equipment for customer access. A key point of the ACCC's reasoning is that Telstra customers shouldn't be footing the bill for NBN migration. The incumbent had argued that it would suffer higher per-customer costs as users were moved to the NBN wholesale network, even if they remained as Telstra retail customers.
“Our draft decision is that assets that become redundant as a result of migration will be removed from the asset base. Also, users of the copper network will not pay the higher prices that result from the loss of scale efficiencies as the number of services remaining on the copper network falls,” ACCC commissioner Rod Sims explained in today's announcement. The current decision is still a draft, with the regulator soliciting further submissions, and it's a certainty that Telstra will at least be trying to reverse the price cut, even if it gives up its attempt at increasing prices.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Monday June 29 2015, @09:39PM
Also, users of the copper network will not pay the higher prices that result from the loss of scale efficiencies as the number of services remaining on the copper network falls,
Once you remove any possibility of paying for maintenance, you pretty well doom that network to failure, and obsolescence. Time to tear it out, recycle the copper and move on.
However it depends on who's choice it is to stay on copper. If the customer has a reason to do so, then you end up running copper just for those customers. Seems fair they should pay the price.
(Closest thing to this situation that I can recall was analog cell phones [engadget.com]. Very popular in Alaska with the fishing fleets due to the amazing range they had over open water. They begged the local providers to provide them past the 2008 shutdown date, and I believe they managed to convince a few to do so until tower equipment started failing.)
On the other hand, if the carrier is forcing people to remain on copper land lines just to avoid stringing fiber, the customer shouldn't have to pay full maintenance cost of an obsolete network still being used to avoid costly upgrades.
A key point of the ACCC's reasoning is that Telstra customers shouldn't be footing the bill for NBN migration.
Now they seem to want it both ways. Can't charge adequate prices to maintain copper, can't charge adequate prices to migrate to fiber.
I guess this reasoning only works is you can assume that the carriers were pocketing excessive profits all along, instead of making incremental upgrades to the networks all along.
Historically all upgrades to future networks are paid for by the subscribers of the current network. There was a tag line somewhere that said "We built this internet one dialup line at a time". It was very true, even assuming any excessive profits.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @10:42PM
NBN Co is installing new copper now for the last mile in some cases. This after the pitch for NBN being fibre to the home. Asshats.
(Score: 1) by Harlequin on Monday June 29 2015, @11:00PM
The roll out of the new network is being handled by a different organisation to Telstra. Telstra is in the process of finalising a deal to hive its customers across to the NBN network as the network is rolled out. The financial aspects of this deal are partially based around the wholesale price. Turnbull is correct in saying if you slash the wholesale price too much you will change the financial incentives to help with the transfer.
As for the state of the network there are about a billion legacy issues which resulted in the network not being upgraded in a timely fashion. Most of those centre on Sol Trujillo and his combative relationships with previous Govs.