The first stage of the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network began yesterday, when communications minister Stephen Conroy announced the release of an open tender for fibre optic cable together with state-owned energy group Aurora Energy.
Conroy and Tasmanian premier David Bartlett announced that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the two Governments and Aurora Energy, while a new company tentatively titled TNBN will monitor the project.
TNBN is a subsidiary of the Government’s National Broadband Network companies, and will be partly owned by Aurora Energy.
The Tasmanian branch of the NBN will deliver wholesale-online open access network services. The network will deliver broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.
Aurora Energy has already invited tenders for the provision and management of optic fibre cables, with contracts possibly extended for up to three years.
While the initial tender has focussed on a niche market of fibre optic cables, Ovum analyst David Kennedy says there will be plenty of scope for other businesses to take part in the network as the national rollout begins.
“They have a chance to get in on the action. The other side is the civil works side of things, stringing power cables on poles, and so on. Installing the glass fibre is a big job too, more than half the overall cost of the network. Civil works costs don’t fall, like technology, so many civil works companies will get in on this.”
“Keep in mind what we’re seeing now is just the passive infrastructure. Just dark fibre and civil works, what’s yet to come is a lot of electronics. There will large companies leading the way, but under that umbrella there will be plenty of opportunities later on that will require the contribution of many different companies.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
