Own The Network, Brough Turner, eComm 2008

Slide 1: Own the Network A Radical Approach to Internet Connectivity Brough Turner, CTO, NMS Communications

Slide 2: Sweden Hammarbysjostad (Stockholm) Västerbotten (Northern Sweden) Courtesy Lars Hedberg, The Swedish Urban Network Association

Slide 3: Sweden Hammarbysjostad (Stockholm) Västerbotten (Northern Sweden) Courtesy Lars Hedberg, The Swedish Urban Network Association

Slide 4: Sweden 100 Mbps, $16/month Hammarbysjostad (Stockholm) Västerbotten (Northern Sweden) Courtesy Lars Hedberg, The Swedish Urban Network Association

Slide 5: US comparison…

Slide 6: US comparison…

Slide 7: But what to do?

Slide 8: But what to do? Competition?

Slide 9: But what to do? Competition? Regulation?

Slide 10: But what to do? Competition? Regulation? Telephony is not a “natural monopoly” — What about Internet connectivity?

Slide 11: Be careful what you ask for…

Slide 12: Be careful what you ask for…

Slide 13: Be careful what you ask for…

Slide 14: Local Right-of-Way is a bottleneck

Slide 15: Using the right of way also has issues Photo by Dr. William T. Verts, http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~verts/things/things.html Swedish Urban Network Association

Slide 16: Cable bundles leading to one fiber per home

Slide 17: Who lights the fiber? At least 2 choices! 1. Regulated monopoly lights the fibers • All homes get same speed(s) and are locked to those electronics until the whole neighborhood is upgraded 2. Homeowners pick an ISP to light their fiber • Homeowner selects the speeds & services desired

Slide 18: Own (or Control) Individual Dark Fibers

Slide 19: Own (or Control) Individual Dark Fibers • Condominium fiber • Québec’s Villages Branchés program (2002) 62 school boards participate in commercial dark fiber coops • 18,000 km dark fiber • 184 new “non-dominant carriers” • 7 engineering firms; 10 fiber contractors • 4332 buildings connected

Slide 20: Community Association – Ulmea http://www.bjornerback.com/tomas/mattgrand/

Slide 21: Community Association – Ulmea 1 Gbps middle-km connection http://www.bjornerback.com/tomas/mattgrand/

Slide 22: Municipal dark fiber – Stockholm Stokab AB founded 1994 Fibre to the block – entire metro Stockholm http://www.stokab.se

Slide 23: Own (or Control) Individual Dark Fibers Issues Path forward • Existing (legacy) • Public & politicians laws and regulations notice US global rank • Vested interests • High tech community has some lobbying clout • Success models visible

Slide 24: Thank you ! Brough Turner rbt@nmss.com http://blogs.nmss.com/communications/