By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
GEELONG’S hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network could become part of a local NBN rollout.
Neighbourhood Cable rolled out the high-speed HFC internet network over 10 years ago before it was sold to TransAct and then to iiNet.
Wayne Bouffler, iiNet’s cable network manager, said he anticipated negotiations with NBNco about incorporating Geelong’s HFC network were “imminent”.
“NBNCo has already announced it will use HFC networks as part of its Australia-wide rollout,” Mr Bouffler said.
“NBNco is going to talk to Telstra and Optus about their HFC networks and ours is the same, so I’d say those discussions would be imminent.
“There’s no point in duplicating networks that achieve comparable speeds.”
Mr Bouffler said Geelong’s HFC network delivered broadband services as fast as 100 megabits a second to more than 50,000 premises.
“The HFC network bypasses local bottlenecks because it doesn’t go through the telephone exchanges.”
The Independent recently reported on significant broadband blackspots around Geelong. Telstra has increased the number of ports available to upgrade several exchanges.
HFC customer Rob Dorris said he took up the option because of its higher speed for his Power Up Computing, which services business and residential customers from his North Geelong home.
“Speed is the biggest advantage. I had a client I was upgrading and the download on ADSL2 was going to take three hours.
“I went home and downloaded in it in eight minutes. That saved the customer a lot of money instead of having me sitting and watching it download.”
Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson said Federal Government had approved NBNCo’s recommendation to leverage existing infrastructure.
“The NBN strategic review recommended upgrading existing HFC cable networks to deliver download speeds of up to 300mbps and uploads of up to 100mbps. It is too early to say for sure but it’s possible the NBN could utilise the existing HFC network to help deliver the NBN to Geelong.”
Ms Henderson said an updated rollout plan would be released later this year.
