News
Farmwide – a lost maverick
A maverick is a disruptive operator that forces incumbents to make non-trivial changes to their business models. The disruption can be through innovation or pricing.
The previous article explained how the UK and the European Union were prepared to block a merger of two mobile operators to preserve a maverick and competition.
Australia is a smaller market with fewer operators. But, there was a potential maverick internet operator in Farmwide, which was not nurtured as it might have been.
DISCLAIMER – I want to distance myself from the headline CommsWire put to my column. Farmwide was not murdered and indeed survives today; though not as an ISP.
To read about Farmwide, click Economuse 2016-05-27
Australia – Few players and no mavericks
This column discusses the importance of disruptive or maverick operators to drive innovation and price competition in mobile and fixed networks. Two days after the attached opinion piece was published in CommsWire, the European Commission supported Ofcom’s decision to block the merger of 3UK and O2; see
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1704_en.htm
The opinion piece below also discusses the lack of competition in Australian mobile and fixed broadband markets. Ofcom’s research suggests that mobile prices may up to 20% higher than they could be in Australia.
For more, see Economuse 2016-05-09
CVCs – Is pricing crippling the NBN?
This week, Bill Morrow announced another tweak to CVC pricing which seems to imply a $1.75 cut in the current $17.50/Mbps CVC price as early as July. But even with this and tiered discounts (for which an implementation date has yet to be announced), CVC costs per end user are going to be double what the sector is looking for.
In the PC world we have seen that bigger chips and improved performance have been closely followed by more sophisticated software that eats up the new capacity. But, we have a chicken and egg situation with the NBN. We know that users are not prepared to pay for speed. Users will not need more speed until the applications require them. And the applications will not arrive until users have the speeds to use them.
We can cut through this impasse and unleash innovation if nbn™ Co. turns on speed with just one or two AVCs (say, up to 100 Mbps and unlimited). It would catapult Australia to the top of global speed ratings. More importantly, Australia would become the global lab for developers looking for ubiquitous, true broadband.
For more details, read Economuse 2016-04 and (same day) COMMUNICATIONS DAY-7-4-2016
Broadband news – Take-up and TPG Plan B or C?
The nbn has been reporting some good news. But, there are things it should be reporting which may not show good news. Also, TPG is about to launch its Plan B (wireless broadband) which will entail worse news for nbn than TPG’s Plan A (FTTB).
For more, open Economuse 2016-02-16
CVCs again – this is not the end game
NBN is doing another consultation on CVC pricing with some of its customers. CVC pricing has been a problem for the NBN from the outset and these secretive consultations do not reflect the openness and transparency promised the current management team.
However, enough details have been leaked to make some comments on the latest ideas; which are due to be trialled from April. I just wish it would try the ideas I have been telling it for over 6 years now.
So, here it is: Economuse 2015-11-30