Come September, some customers of Australian Capital Territory internet service provider TransACT will be able to select a 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload broadband service.
The data charges alone, excluding charges that any of the 11 ISPs that can deliver services across its network, will be $89.95 per month, TransACT chief executive officer Ivan Slavich told ZDNet.com.au yesterday.
TransACT in 2007 selected Alcatel-Lucent as its Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) equipment provider, and has initially targeted its FTTH deployment to new development or "greenfield" estates only. "We have also commenced the deployment of FTTP to brownfield suburbs in the ACT, starting with a 1000-home retrofit, also using Alcatel and Corning fibre," explained Slavich.
TransACT ultimately intends to extend its FTTH network to around 10,000 homes and another 6500 apartment blocks.
TransACT had also completed the upgrade of its VDSL network to VDSL2 to a "significant number" of apartment buildings, Slavich said. The operator uses the network to deliver digital TV, internet and wide area network applications.
The telco industry is currently looking at high bandwidth services such as digital TV that would attract customers to utilise 100Mbps speeds available on an FTTH National Broadband Network, and ultimately make the wholesale-only network a profitable company.
Ericsson Australia vice president Tony Malligeorgos told ZDNet.com.au that the dominant draw card globally has been television.
"It's been TV that's been the dominant value proposition. The triple play bundle has been the key to this," he said. Slavich said that "more than half" of TransACT's FTTH customers choose TV as part of the service, with the remainder sticking to just data and voice.
"TransACT has almost a decade of experience in running triple play, TV, data/voice on its VDSL, now VDSL2, and FTTH networks. TransACT has experienced significant growth in TV traffic, mostly in IPTV [and] video-on-demand services," he said.
Hmmm ... and I'm still waiting for my exchange to be upgraded so that I can get ADSL2