Over recent months, much of the debate surrounding the National Broadband Network (NBN) has revolved around what it will be used for. What will it provide to Australians, that current broadband infrastructure cannot?
That depends very much on how you look at it – on a macro and/or micro level.
Can the current systems deliver internet to homes and businesses? Yes. Can they deliver video streams such as IPTV and video-conferencing? Yes. Can they deliver just about anything you could possibly package up and send over a data connection? Yes, of course, absolutely.
Two way interactive services? Not so much – but why build the NBN when we can do most of it already? We can, but that’s a very narrow view of the project. There are many social and economic benefits of the network.
Using the current infrastructure everything would be delivered to you over a single logical connection, all competing for the limited bandwidth available.
If everyone in the family is online at the same time, trying to use bandwidth intensive applications, the competition for the bandwidth amongst all the devices trying to access it will most likely make it a crappy experience for everyone.
In our house, it only takes two people watching a YouTube video, and it’s stop/start all the way.
So with the initial offer of up to 100Mbps for most people, raw internet bandwidth will be massively improved – and for many people, that will be enough.
However, the NBN will allow multiple distinct data services to be provisioned into your premises, over the single piece of fibre – two voice services, and four data services.
The next product offering from NBN Co after basic data and telephony will be for IPTV services – in lay terms, television over an “internet” connection.
I deliberately put quotes around “internet” because such connections might not be – (and most likely would not be) – actual internet connections. They would be connections to an IPTV provider, which might not necessarily require actual internet connectivity.
It might not even be the same company who provides your basic internet data connection to you over the fibre. It could someone completely different, such is the flexibility that the NBN provides.
That’s why the government is now calling them “RSPs” – (Retail Service Providers) – instead of “ISPs” – (Internet Service Providers) – because it is not just about internet any more.
One of the major complaints that many people have about subscription television services that companies like Foxtel and Austar provide is that they might be paying $100 per month for a particular package of channels – maybe 100 or more – but only ever watch 10 or 15 different channels.
You “have” to do it though to get the particular channels you REALLY want, even if you never watch most of the other channels.
What if you could pay a base fee for an IPTV service to be connected as a second service over your NBN fibre, and then go a-la-carte and pay a small fee for each of the channels you want, and ONLY the channels you want?
Say, for a single dollar a channel per month?
If I went through the entire list of channels available on the Foxtel platform, and picked out only the channels we regularly watch in our house, that number would come to about 25 out of that entire list.
What if an IPTV provider did a deal with Foxtel to have all channels available to customers, it charged us a base fee of $30.00 to have the service over our NBN fibre, and then one dollar for each of the 25 channels we ever really watch? That’s $55.00 a month – about $35.00 a month less than we’re paying now, and we’re only getting the channels we actually watch.
Win. And you may or may not need a set top box to watch them.
What if they did deals with other suppliers, in addition to Foxtel, to get access to channels that Foxtel doesn’t have? They could offer channels/channel packages that Foxtel could not.
More win.
Overall, it would still be good for Foxtel. They might end up with less “full service” customers over their existing satellite or cable platforms, but people who have avoided subscription television in the past, fearing the cost, might now consider it a more valuable proposition – and that would equate to new revenue streams.
IPTV technology is mature and very available, and I am currently working with such a system. Services like Netflix in the US provide streaming content to the public for less than $10.00 per month.
Traditional broadcast television is already becoming less important to many people, and tailored packages such as would be made possible by the NBN are going to become the rule, rather than the exception.
It will take time, but it will happen.
Multiple services into each home will provide more revenues to NBN Co, further reducing the financial risk the project entails. NBN Co’s business plan projects their desired outcomes with around 70% uptake.
If everyone has two connections, that’s 140% uptake.
Folks, the future is here, and it is time to embrace the possibilities.