Melbourne University will end up getting fibre-to-the-premises as its NBN technology after the NBN Co and university authorities considered the degree of difficulty in wiring up the buildings.
In a blog post, the company said the job of connecting the University, one of the country's oldest, was put off for 18 months while a suitable modus operandi was considered.
Properties surrounding the University were among the first to be wired up, but work on the institution itself was delayed.
The NBN Co communications adviser Greg Thom said there were numerous people who had views on what technology should be used, heritage sensitivities and disputed ownership of below-ground infrastructure that contributed to the degree of difficulty.
{loadposition sam08}As the University covered a huge area, the work was divided into four stages.
NBN Co deployment manager Harry Iliaskos was quoted as saying a main issue "was that, although we had a single point of contact at the University, there were multiple people who also had to be consulted for not only each building, but sometimes a single floor".
He said that once a solution was agreed on, the wiring would go in as far as could be done first time.
“We are putting it (fibre) in all the way up to the Network Termination Device and activating that NTD,” he says.
“Our view is it’s difficult to get in there, so let’s get in as far as we can so we don’t have to go back.”
Photos: courtesy NBN Co