Telstra trials first FTTP home
Noel Roberts' Brookwater house in Greater Springfield is the first home in Australia to have telephone services, high speed Internet and subscription TV on one optical fibre connection. In announcing the move Telstra, however, emphasised that Roberts "did not receive special treatment because of his relationship with Telstra."
FTTP is an access infrastructure than can deliver telephony, broadband data and digital subscription television services to customer premises on an optical fibre platform.
The Queensland home is part of an FTTP pilot program being conducted by Telstra and the Springfield Land Corporation and Medallist Developments joint venture.
Homes in the pilot area can access FTTP technology to obtain multiple fixed-line phones, Internet and subscription TV services.
Queensland managing director for Telstra Country Wide, Don Pinel, said the optical fibre access would be able to support anticipated future higher bandwidth services such as video on demand.
"The optical fibre allows us to increase the speed or bandwidth of the connection to the house as new services are required by the home owner. We envisage that within a few years, more and more people will want to download movies on demand from the Internet, which requires very high-speeds that would be easily provided by a fibre connection," Pinel said.
Telstra expects the technology to play a major future role in Telstra's network, along with copper, radio and satellite technologies.
Telstra is in discussions with selected property developers about a commercial offering of FTTP at additional housing estate developments.
Meanwhile, Telstra will continue to support the two Queensland pilot sites at Brookwater and Emerald Lakes. If the pilots are successful, the commercial release of FTTP will take place next year.
Telstra announced its AU$700 million pilot program last July, covering 200 hectares and more than 1400 residences.
Telstra previously said that the FTTP would not replace Telstra's existing copper access network and that copper would continue to be an effective medium for the delivery of voice and broadband data services for many years.