By Peter Douglas
NBN has declared it will take an aerial route in a bid to provide Belgrave with superfast internet access, rather than the traditional ground approach.
Due to the challenges of rolling out the service in the hills, NBN’s design team has announced it has been developing a plan to combat the barriers posed.
Work is scheduled to begin mid this year, though, due to the predicted challenges, no timeframe has been locked in.
In addition to dense bushland, blind corners and steep embankments make it difficult to access for trucks and to set up drilling machines.
Other barriers include spiders and snakes, heritage overlays and even a local icon – Puffing Billy, according to NBN.
NBN’s design team are in the early stages of drawing up plans to connect most of these Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) premises via pole-mounted aerial distribution points.
While this aerial approach presents significant challenges of its own, and is not being considered lightly, NBN Project Manager Regional Deployment Shamendra Kannangara says his team is faced with little choice.
“3BEL (the Belgrave area) is definitely one of the most difficult Service Area Modules (SAM) to build due to its terrain,” Shamendra said.
“There is minimal existing underground network and most existing customers are currently fed aerially.”
Even if we could, the rocky terrain is not only difficult to drill through, but loose rocks are a potential hazard.
“And if we could overcome the drilling issues, there is no space next to the poles in most areas to install new pits anyway,” Shamendra said.
The Puffing Billy issue is particularly tricky.
The two level-crossings in questions are being approached in different ways – with the plan to have one bridged overhead by aerial connection, the other by hauling fibre underground via existing cable ducts.
The actual build design aside, the decision to go aerial means health and safety will be a primary focus, with particular attention placed on a traffic management and working at height.
“Some work will be done on a truck in a bucket,” Shamendra said.
“(But) some we will have to do off a ladder, such as cutovers, so we have to pay a lot of attention to that as well.”
The approach is further complicated by the need to work so close to high voltage powerlines.
Back in 2015, NBN announced the dates for its planned roll-out for the region, with the Belgrave work initially slated for mid-2018.
First in line for the hills area was Ferntree Gullly, Lysterfield and Upper Ferntree Gully, with an estimated 4220 premises set to receive NBN eaccess from July to December 2016.
Next was to be Avonsleigh, Clematis, Cockatoo, Emerald Gembrook and Kallista, with an estimated 4360 premises in these areas set for access throughout January to March last year.
However, an estimated 7100 premises were this year to gain access in the townships of Belgrave, Ferny Creek, Tecoma and Upwey.
When completed, NBN initially said it will not only replace ageing communications technology, but facilitate superfast broadband service which will deliver speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.
Claims of such speeds have been scaled back in recent months.
