back to article Linknet shuttering, blames NBN rollout

Long-time indy ISP Linknet on the NSW north coast is shuttering its business, saying it's been overbuilt by the NBN and can't recapitalise to become a reseller. For more than a decade, the small ISP has run a wireless-last-mile model to connect customers in the fairly sparsely-populated Mullumbimby area, since many people live …

  1. Steven Roper

    Fixed wireless may be the answer

    There are a number of small ISPs, such as NuSkope, Uniti and Skymesh, that are willing to build out towers in small country towns. NuSkope in particular specifically state that they're happy to do a build-out for as few as 5-8 connections. From their site:

    We only require five to eight names on a list for us to start considering the site. ... Our latest example is the small town of Stockport with 15 houses, 40+ kilometres from Adelaide; their only alternate options were a slow and expensive satellite service… or no Internet at all.

    So the good folks of Mullumbimby only need to jump on Whirlpool and start asking around. There are plenty of options available for remote regions these days.

    1. uthacalthing

      Re: Fixed wireless may be the answer

      Unfortunately, Fixed wireless is not the answer for the majority of these people.

      Linknet are already a fixed wireless provider - the reason they are closing their doors is that because of the takeup of NBN Fixed Wireless (where it's available) it's no longer viable for them to even break even in this area, which is quite mountainous and therefore needs a higher tower density. And that's where they already have the infrastructure in place - another provider would have even higher barriers to entry.

      It's not just the township of Mullumbimby itself, but also the surrounding areas such as Ocean Shores, Brunswick Heads, and Sunshine Beach.

      The NBN fibre rollout isn't scheduled in these areas until 1st half of 2018, which means those in the township, who in theory actually fall within the fixed wireless transmission zone, cannot get it because "you're going to be getting fibre". Eventually. In about 2 years. If there aren't any delays.

      The other issue is that a large proportion of these customers signed on with LinkNet because although they are eligible for ADSL, there are no ports left at their exchange (and have not been for several years).

      So, no ADSL, no Fixed Wireless (either existing or future planned), and no Fibre for at least 2 years.

      All in all, there doesn't appear to be a way out for these residents, other than taking out a 24-month contract for Telstra 3/4G wireless Internet, which in some instances could be up to 10 times the cost given their existing Internet usage patterns, and that's even if there is were available plans catering for that much data in the first place. Furthermore, in many instances the terrain means that there is no cellular coverage, so there's no Internet service of any kind until NBN satellite kicks off, but that's going to take even longer than Fibre...

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