James Mathews MP: Some time ago I met a gentleman who came here from the Old Country, who ridiculed the expensive practice of using copper wire where iron wire would do, the latter costing only [10.5 pence]. per lb., and the former [1.5 pence]. The price of iron wire does not fluctuate much, but that of copper fluctuates a good deal. The year before last it was about [11 pence] a lb. ref: Hansard, Australian Parliament 1910
The CCC submits that the higher costs associated with FTTH should not be overstated, and are now so close that the consumer service benefit far outweighs any cost advantage
• The major cost component of any terrestrial access technology in earth works, and this cost is not affected by the choice of fibre over copper.
• The cost difference of the Layer 1 infrastructure (copper vs. fibre), is now very little, particularly when copper is installed in a form to accommodate ADSL based broadband. To enable broadband over copper either a copper cable must be installed from the nearest exchange to the Housing development boundary or an ISAM or CMUX must be installed operating off a fibre cable from the nearest local exchange.
• Maintenance costs on fibre are generally lower than for copper. ref: Response to NBN Fibre-to-the-Premises in Greenfields Estates Consultation Paper June 2009
