Local Loop Unbundling waiting game

[rpm]

Local Loop Unbundling waiting game

Initial predictions already fallen by the wayside making the November 2011 deadline overly optimistic

 

[Lycanthrope]

*sigh* I'm inclined to agree with:

"We’ll have the same story we had with the interconnection regime. Telkom will stonewall until the very last moment and the process will only start in 2011, instead of being completed by then,” Van Marken said.

And, really, all I have to say on this antediluvian matter is a very simple, "**** you, ICASA."

 

[Pilgrim]

@ICASA, how fusking difficult is it?

Step 1: Ask telkom how many exchanges they have.
Step 2: Give telkom a timeframe in which they must complete bundling.
Step 3: Give telkom a R1,000,000 penalty per exchange per month that they are behind schedule.

(please note these are total thumb suck figures, but just to illustrate)
Eg: telkom has 24,000 exchanges. They have 24 months as of end of 2009 to implement their LLU. Tell them they must unbundle 1/24th of their exchanges per month as of January 2010.

When 23 months remain (01 Feb 2010) till LLU completion and they have only completed the unbundling of 700 exchanges it means they are are 300 exchages behind schedule. This means they pay 300 x R1,000,000 in Feb. If they only manage to unbundle 800 exchanges in Feb 2010 it means they are 500 exchanges behind meaning 500 x R1,000,000 penalty. Etc...

Soon it will be financially unfeasible to be behind schedule and very suddenly LLU will be easy

It is that simple. The carrot or the stick. Asking them to finish by 2011 is a carrot and it is simply not enough.

Telling them to finish by 2011 and them beating them to %&@*! with a stick will ensure they don't waste time.

How hard can it be?

 

[Ory]

"If we were Telkom, we wouldn’t do a thing about unbundling until 2010 at the earliest, and then make lots of excuses about how technically difficult it is," said Van Marken.


So why are you complaining then, if you would do the exact same thing! Shameless hypocrites!

 

[pope24]

Even simpler. Give Telkom a timeframe for unbundling a single exchange. Give them a minimum amount of exchanges that they should be able to unbundle at a single time.

Let the competitors dictate which exchanges get unbundled first.

Create a public list that shows which exchanges are going to be unbundled first. The more competitors that want access toa single exchange the higher up the list it moves. Three competitors get done before two and two before one.

That way Telkom has to unbundle the most profitable exchanges first and the least profitable last. Also because the competitors will have to pay Telkom a fee for unbundling the exchange the impact on Telkom's bottom line is minimised.

Sounds fair to me...

 

[ocean-addict]

Does anyone have a rundown of how this whole process needs to be carried out? ie does new equipment have to be installed at each exchange? do new fibre links have to be laid to each exchange, or will competitors be connecting via ATM? etc etc

And also, where is the money coming from for this whole operation?

 

[burntproduce]

I'm not that familiar with the actual process, but my sister worked for a broadband company in the UK while they were going through the unbundling process. As I remember it they actually had to finance the unbundling of each individual exchange - though I am not sure if this was simply from their end or if BT (British Telecom aka the incumbent) also had to deploy infrastructure. In any case it prolonged the process as they could only finance it when more customers signed on. As is the case with most expensive infrastructure deployment: The current customers pay for the expansion.

 

[Roman4604]

of the Rosebank exchange being at the top of that unbundling list...

No.2, no.1 is Benmore Gardens (down the road from Sandton City). Thankfully my exchange, Fourways is no.4 (by active DSL lines).

 

[Roman4604]

I was thinking more along IPConnect lines than number of ADSL lines...

True, but thats not proper LLU. That said I cant see full LLU happening at more than the top ~25-50 exchanges in the medium term. The cost of backhaul (fibre cost are distance based) being the inhibiting factor for fin viability.

I forsee most LLU being based on IPC's successor, hopefully coming next year.

 

[Gatecrasher]

So why are you complaining then, if you would do the exact same thing! Shameless hypocrites!

But Vox are not a fixed line monopoly who had their network built at the taxpayers' expense. Big difference.

 

[Roman4604]

Interesting, please elaborate.

Supposedly, the main difference will be PPPoE frame handover, allowing ISPs more flexibility to offer differentiated service e.g. static IPs. Since the exact PPPoE frame generated by the customer is recieved by the ISP (unlike IPC currently), it can be classified as a form of LLU called 'bitstream'.