Lobby group: Burying NBN cables may increase reliability and decrease health risks
- 01 October, 2009 14:46
- Comments 13
The chairman of a national lobby group has told a Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network (NBN) laying cables underground may increase reliability and decrease health risks. Peter Downey, the chairman of Sydney Cables Downunder said by laying fiber optic cables underground instead of hanging them overhead would reduce the likeliness of the destruction of communication wires by bushfires and address occupational health issues.
Downey pointed towards massive underground communication networks that are expanding and operating successfully overseas and suggested that Australia should follow their example.
He said reliability shouldn’t be compromised with cheaper solutions because underground cables would increase both efficiency and reduce offset costs such as cutting down trees to build new power poles.
“We should move forward by using the world’s best practice,” he said.
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Cables Downunder estimates burying the cables would increase the reliability of the network by 5 to 10 fold and also cut down the cost by half in the long run.
However, Downey acknowledged these numbers are estimates only and partly based on an unspecified article published in 1998. He added his conclusions were influenced by daily phone calls he received from citizens threatening to tear down the NBN cables if they were hung overhead.
The plan to lay cables underground will allow Australia to keep competitive with the rest of the world, Downey said. He also pointed to underground cables already laid successfully under the Hawkesbury River as an example of what could be done.
The Senate Select Committee said it would look into the benefits of laying cables underground to make the NBN more cost effective and reliable.
Earlier in the day the head of Australia’s peak independent research and policy advisory body told the Committee it had not been asked by the Government to play a part in the NBN rollout.
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Comments
Aaron M
Health issues? Oh no your photons are hurting me! And why would new power poles be needed? You can run optic fibre right next to existing powerlines (and as they are thinner they would be hardly noticable), and go underground in places that have no existing poles.
Wakie
How are fibre cables on power poles an 'occupational' hazard? Sounds like hogswash to me.
Very interested
I would love to see some substantiation of these claims...
P
Has he mentioned backhoes?
So people will tear down fibre optic cables, but don't care about power lines being strung overhead?
Tailgator
re Substantiation.
Mr Downey
re Substantiation.
Mr Downey could not provide supporting evidence for;
- His estimates for the cost savings of burying the cables,
- Empirical evidence regarding the number of calls he received each day regarding threats to tear down the cables,
- Emperical evidence regarding the degree of public opinion against overhead cables (despite being asked twice by the Chair of the Committee) instead offering a personal anecdote about a meeting with 150 church goers in Ghana.
So the question needs to be asked - 'What public opinion?'
But I'm sure all the rags like the Herald Sun and their ilk will pick it up and make a big story of it. A bit like this one..... oh, hang on.
Robert
Re: Health risks - Well, as they are stringing them to power poles, and probably fairly close to the live wires, as the non-conductive optical fibres do not need to be seperated, People who attempt to drag them down with grappling hooks would do so at great risk to their health.
get a life
Suggestion: Why don't you all just find something better to do than be worked up about an article you found over the internet.
Richard
Come on, Christina. If I say something completely stupid will you report that without question? Downey's job relies on his having some credibility. He has none. This line of stories is beginning to sound more like the rantings of the Republicans against universal health coverage in the US.
Anonymous
@Richard
so you would rather
@Richard
so you would rather not know these lobby groups are saying these things at expensive senate committee hearings on one of the nation's largest infrastructure spends in history?
would any of us know Downey said these things if this journo hadn't reported it?
glad she did as now I know Downey has no evidence to back himself up
Anonymous
Except; The poles get burnt in bushfires, swept away in floods and hit by any drunk driver or truck that gets the urge - regularly.
no one cares about the thickness of the wires - but if you are going to spend 43 billion dollars of taxpayers money (or 63 Billion as one estimate suggests) then you build it right!
gfrend
Can we get some common sense into these postings?
It's a National Broadband Network, and Australia is a big place with lots of different and difficult locations to connect.
Urban and near-urban sites would be good candidates for buried ducts where that is possible, but there are a lot of areas where overhead cable is the only available option. And beyond the suburbs, the rest of the country deserves to have the same opportunities as the inner-city trendies, delivered through appropriate technology.
One size does not fit all, so let's apply the reality filter and move on to what will give the best coverage.
Peter Downey
The claims I made to the Committee were based on evidence supplied by the Power Distributors themselves to the Federal Governments Putting Cables Underground report. They are fact.
On the issue of health issues I was referring to occupational Health and Safety issues of telephone linesmen not trained in working with high voltages having to access Fibre Optic cable in close proximity with High Voltage cables and Vice Versa.
As for evidence of the phone calls, you will have to take my word for it as to provide you with the evidence you ask for could not be obtained without tape recording all incoming calls. As the saying goes, My word is my bond and I take such matters seriously, plus the fact that I was effectively under oath when giving this evidence.
As for digging up the streets, this is no longer necessary due to modern technology. really you have to look at the big picture and not nit pick at unimportant details which can not be adequately covered in a situation such as this.
Finally let me ask you this. How would you feel if a high loaded truck tore down your overhead Internet and Phone Lines making it almost impossible to get a phone call out for an ambulance as you are suffering severe chest pains and you live in an area of limited Mobile coverage. Yes it did happen and I was the victim.
So please get all the facts before condemning the evidence. Remember also that the NBN should be able to carry telephony replacing the Telstra copper network, so it may be your only link with the outside world.
Anonymous
Working at heights is an Occupational Health risk. It's obvious really if you think about it for more than 2 seconds.
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