Quoting "Russell Coker" <russell@coker.com.au>:
In terms of getting high speed net access to people cheaply, the suburban sprawl of Melbourne (which is defined as "metropolitan") is much more difficult and expensive than the large buildings with small apartments that are common in the more densly populated countries.
I was installing telecommunication cables for few years. It isn't necessarily easier to lay a cable in an apartment building. I remember the joy of drilling holes through 30 cm of concrete, and if you have to do that up to fifth floor you have to do that five times. Digging a cable trench outside a street may feel like a holiday afterwards. You will be amazed how many meters of cable you can have inside an apartment building. I just went to a housewarming party last weekend to Point Cook. They are apartment houses, just laid out horizontally instead of on top of each other;-) Regards Peter