Telstra, Vocus and TPG Telecom are set to collaborate with NBN Co’s business division on enterprise-grade broadband services based on the National Broadband Network (NBN) builder’s Enterprise Ethernet offering.
In November last year, NBN Co announced the launch of several product and service updates designed to help retail service providers (RSPs) meet market demand for medium, enterprise and government businesses migrating to the NBN.
Among the offerings noted at the time was the accelerated launch of a wholesale direct fibre broadband product to provide access to enterprise-grade high bandwidth.
The product, named Enterprise Ethernet, is designed to achieve symmetrical speeds of up to 1Gbps as well as increased operational support.
NBN Co said at the time that first stage of an industry trial was set to commence in November 2017 and was scheduled to be in market by the end of 2018.
Now, NBN Co has said that its newly-established business division will work with Telstra, Vocus and TPG Telecom over the coming months to make sure Enterprise Ethernet product provides a high quality and cost-effective service for enterprise customers.
“The [NBN] Enterprise Ethernet product is designed to meet international enterprise broadband standards and can provide large organisations with the ability to run data-intensive applications such as Virtual Private Networks (VPN), multiple voice lines and cloud-based solutions,” NBN Co’s chief customer officer, Business, John Simon, said.
“In the early stages of the trial, participating phone and internet providers will identify a number of business customers with varying construction and broadband requirements, where our focus will be on testing the infrastructure design and build.
“As we near closer to launch, we will begin to test the performance of the product as well as internal processes to ensure we are positioned to meet the growing needs of enterprises. The trial will give retailers the opportunity to provide feedback on the design and delivery of the product and ensure it is competitive and valuable option for their enterprise customers,” he said.
The new Enterprise Ethernet product is expected to be commercially available in the third quarter of 2018.
The move to bolster its enterprise offering comes several months after NBN Co announced changes to its wholesale pricing model in a bid to help NBN resellers package up plans targeted at medium and enterprise businesses.
Among the changes was the introduction of a new spend cap on its high bandwidth business products enabling retail service providers to save on monthly wholesale charges.
On 5 February, it was revealed that communications and IT solutions provider, Speedcast International (ASX:SDA), had won a $184 million, decade-long contract for the delivery of enterprise-grade satellite services.
The contract sees Speedcast’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Speedcast Managed Services, partner with NBN Co to design, build and manage NBN Co’s enterprise satellite services drawn from the national network builder’s Sky Muster satellite network.
The push for greater enterprise coverage comes as NBN Co works to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) it generates from its national network, which has remained relatively stagnant for the past year.
Since the NBN rollout began, ARPU – the average revenue generated per end customer, per month – has played an essential role in the modelling of the estimated future profit of the company.
Indeed, NBN’s 2017 Corporate Plan referred to an increase in ARPU as one of just a handful of “critical sensitivities” that could affect the company’s long-term financial outlook and impact its peak funding range.
