Don't put your trust in on-demand FTTP
On paper, there’s a lot to be said for this concept. Basically, the operator (public or private) deploys Fiber to the Node, but a consumer can pay to get Fiber to the Premises if they really want it. This feature is not unique to the alternative NBN proposal, it’s also being trialled by BT in the UK as highlighted in this article. What’s interesting about the concept is that in theory it addresses the demand issue. In a nutshell, we’ll deliver “better broadband” to you for free, but if you really want “kick-ass broadband”, you can pay extra to get it.
The logic is get it to the neighbourhood, and then diverse to the premise. But we are so far down the route of one size fits all uniform utility deployment that this realisation is much too late. The Internet supports diversity, perhaps the economics don’t, but “on-demand” suggests that isn’t universally accepted.