Neighbourhood Fibre
100Gbps Ultra High-Speed Community Fibre Network
The Bayswater Business Precinct spans across three local governments (Yarra Ranges Council, Knox City Council and Maroondah City Council), represents a $16 billion-dollar local economy and is the second largest manufacturing zoned area in Victoria. A survey conducted by the BBP team in 2020 pre-COVID found the number one issue within was the lack of public transport and the second largest issue for business owners with the lack of high-speed digital communication. However, post lockdown, the urgency of a better high-speed, cost-effective digital communication has forced digital communications to become the priority due to the drastic shift to online communication created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As such, it is now even more important to ensure that fast and cost-effective digital communication is provided to local businesses to help them thrive in a digital world. To this end, Micron21 a local telecommunication company based in Kilsyth, is working with the Bayswater Business Precinct and local councils to build a dedicated communication network for the region. The aim is to provide the latest telecommunication platform to accelerate business into the future and create the most highly connected business precinct in Australia. This investment is critical to the success and growth of local business. The proposed network will connect each and every business that adopts the platform with speeds 1000 times faster than the current technology available within our local area.
Over the past few months, Micron21 has conducted a detailed feasibility study of the local area. With the financial support of three local anchor businesses, along with investments by Micron21 to deliver stage one of the project, it is planned that construction will start from the 24th of May and conclude by the end of July 2021.
The aim of stage one of this project will be to enable all businesses located on the south side of Canterbury road between Liverpool and Colchester road access to the Micron21 BBP Connect fibre network. This new backbone network, built under the telecommunication act of 1997 by local licensed carrier Micron21, will be a major project. However, we also understand the importance of minimizing disruption as much as possible. As such, the entire construction team is provided by local businesses that fully understand the importance of this project to the local community, but also the importance to minimize disruption for fellow local businesses as far as possible.
The following local businesses have been engaged for their expertise in this project, and to ensure we continue to contribute to the local economy and drive jobs for the area:
- Construction Company Cogar: Based in Kilsyth was selected to provide bi directional drilling, construction and traffic management services.
- ABP Plumbing: Based in Lilydale (License #44405) will oversee the installation of all conduct and duct work installed externally on all buildings.
- AFL Fibre: Based in Croydon, will be providing the physical fibre cable which will interconnect all businesses.
- Anderson Corp: Based in Bayswater will be providing fibre termination unit.
Due to the nature of providing a cost-effective solution to local businesses and the massive costs typically associated with bidirectional drilling, 80% of the network will occur above grounds running across the top (on the roof). This will enable an affordable service to be provided to all local businesses.
Under federal legislation of the Telecommunication Act 1997 Part 1—Preliminary section 1.5 a licensed carrier may install carrier infrastructure externally or internally to any building connection equipment means a facility which is:
(a) installed or attached to a multi-unit building; and
(b) used (or intended to be used at some future time) in the supply of carriage services to end users that are, or are to be, located in any of the following:
(i) the building to which the facility is installed or attached; or
(ii) nearby any related buildings.
Detailed information regarding the rights of a licensed carrier to enter your premises can be found here - https://www.acma.gov.au/property-access-rules-telcos
Activation (Once Off)
| Plan | Speed | Term | Activation Fee (inc-GST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | 1,000/1,000 Mbit (1 Gbit) | 1 Year | $1,650 |
| 2 Years | $825 | ||
| 3 Years | $550 | ||
| Fast | 10,000/10,000 Mbit (10 Gbit) |
1 Year | $3,300 |
| 2 Years | $2,475 | ||
| 3 Years | $1,925 | ||
| Ultra | 25,000/25,000 Mbit (25 Gbit) |
1 Year | $5,500 |
| 2 Years | $4,675 | ||
| 3 Years | $4,125 | ||
| Boss | 100,000/100,000 Mbit (100 Gbit) |
1 Year | P.O.A |
| 2 Years | P.O.A | ||
| 3 Years | P.O.A |
Our fibre to the premise is 1:1 and can run up to the full 100 Gbit. The actual speed customers can run at will depend on the NTU purchased or customer premise equipment (CPE), i.e. router, internal switching etc.
The activation fees above include NTU and cabling for a standard sized business, however they do not include installation charges - standard installation charges are $1,650.00 (inc-GST).
Customers that take out a fibre plan when we are doing pre-work will generally have their installation fee waived.
Bandwidth
Once customers connect at their preferred speed, they choose the required bandwidth for their business needs as per the table below. This provides another opportunity for customers to save money against what’s on offer in the market. Mainstream telecommunication providers moved away from bandwidth caps by marketing “unlimited” plans. However, there are constraints on bandwidth so telco’s either highly contend services on a fixed pipe, or charge a premium price for any direct 1:1 service capped at a speed limit as highlighted above.
Most customers do not use anywhere near this bandwidth. 250GB is more than sufficient for most small businesses and 1TB is generally enough for larger sized ones. This is a fairer model for the customer and also mitigates the Telco’s own risk with upstream providers.
Using AT&Ts calculator (https://www.att.com/support/pages/data-calculator/) demonstrates that 1TB can deliver:
- Send and receive 40,000 emails
- Stream 8,500 hours of music
- Surf the internet for 2,000 hours
- Game for 16,500 hours
- Stream high-def videos for 350 hours
- Post to social media for 5,600 hours
If customers do go over their plan, they will be rate limited and will not incur penalty charges for excess data.
The following table lists our retail pricing:
| Internet Data (per month) | Term | Monthly Price (inc-GST) |
|---|---|---|
| 250 GB | 1 Year | $104.50 |
| 2 Years | $99.00 | |
| 3 Years | $88.00 | |
| 2 TB | 1 Year | $253.00 |
| 2 Years | $231.00 | |
| 3 Years | $209.00 | |
| 4 TB | 1 Year | $462.00 |
| 2 Years | $440.00 | |
| 3 Years | $418.00 |
Additional Charges
| Item | Monthly Fee (inc-GST) |
|---|---|
| Static IP Address | $22.00 |
| Extra data after 4 TB plan (per TB) | $55.00 |
| Business To Business vLAN | Free |
| SIP Phone (per Line) Pay for use | $11.00 |
| SIP Phone (per Line) Includes Local, National and Mobile Calls | $33.00 |
Service Level Schedule
The following service levels outline Micron21 Data Centre objectives and targets through out the customer lifecycle.
Customer Connections
Micron21 will connect all customers within 20 business days from a signed agreement for a standard connection. Additional charges may be required for non standard connections that are deemed to exceed 150 metres from the point of connection to the building. Micron21 commits to achieving connections within 95% of the stated objective.
Customer Activations & Disconnections
Where a service has been previously connected, Micron21 commits to a 5 business day objective to activate or disconnect a service for a customer.
Service Rectification
The following table identifies the relevant service levels for a service fault response and rectification.
| Operational Hours | Response Time | Restoration Time |
|---|---|---|
| 8am - 5pm | 30 mins | End of Next Business Day |
| 5pm - 8am | 60 mins | End of Next Business Day |
Response Time: The time taken by a Micron21 support agent to respond and acknowledge the request from the customer.
Restoration Time: The time taken by Micron21 to fix a fault and restore services to the customer. This excludes Force Majeure and faults that are outside the control of Micron21.
Enhanced Service Rectification
Micron21 also offers enhanced restoration targets as a fee for service. This fee is based on a monthly recurring charge.
| Restoration Time | ex-GST | inc-GST | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhanced-12 | 12 Business Hours | $18.77 | $20.65 |
| Enhanced-12 (24/7) | 12 Hours | $50.00 | $55.00 |
| Enhanced-8 | 8 Business Hours | $31.64 | $34.80 |
| Enhanced-8 (24/7) | 8 Hours | $68.77 | $75.65 |
Network Availability
Micron21 will aim to achieve network availability of 99.90% for all BBP Fibre services. This will be calculated as follows:
(Measurement Interval – Unavailable Time) / Measurement Interval x 100
Measurement Interval: this refers to the total number of minutes that Micron21 has agreed to provide is BBP Fibre service in a specific month. This excludes all planned outages as notified on our service status page.
Unavailable Time: This refers to the total number of minutes in a specific month where connectivity between the customer and Micron21 network terminating units is lost by way of a service fault.
Important notes on this service:
- Internet Data refers to data consumed outside of Micron21’s BBP Fibre Connect network.
- All data between Micron21 and other businesses using this network is unmetered.
- TB refers to Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes). A Terabyte per month is generally sufficient for most businesses. Unlike NBN and other telco services, we don’t contend our connections (shared use amongst other customers) . You are able to use the full speed, provided you have a router capable of the plan speed.
- Rates limited to 250Kbps when the data plan is exceeded in a given month.
- If customers require more data then the need to move to the next plan up. When at the top plan, extra data is $55 per TB.
- A virtual local area network (vLAN) allows you to connect to other businesses on this network. For instance, it can allow you to share files between businesses, directly via a Virtual and secure LAN. This service is provided free of charge.
- All 25G connections require the purchase of a 25G NTU and 25G SFPs as a once off purchase of $1375.00 on top of the installation fee
- Customers moving away from NBN that have a phone through an NBN retailer need to be aware that their phone service will be lost if they haven't made alternate arrangements either through Micron21 or elsewhere.
- Customers may not achieved advertised speeds if their on-premise equipment cannot operate at the plan speed.
- A network router is not included in the standard plan. These can be purchased through Micron21 or obtained from any major Office/IT retailer.