Credit: NBN
National Broadband Network (NBN) retail service providers (RSP) servicing the likes of Maitland, NSW; Deer Park, Victoria; Albany Creek in Queensland or Gepps Cross in South Australia will soon have more fibre to play with.
NBN Co has revealed a further extension of new fibre optic cable to pass 200,000 premises in its fibre-to-the-node (FttN) footprint as part of its $4.5 billion network investment plan.
The so-called second tranche of this extension involves around 100,000 premises that it will pass as it extends fibre deeper into communities in selected metropolitan and regional areas of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
It is hoped the move will enable customers living and working in affected premises to place orders for higher speed services, which is likely to trigger the construction of a fibre lead-in direct to individual customers’ premises – a fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) connection.
This will effectively complete individual customers’ conversion from FttN, part of the Coalition government’s multi-technology mix (MTM) rollout of the NBN, to FttP technology — the basis for the original vision of the NBN under former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labor administration, before the rollout of the NBN became the political football it has been in the years since Rudd lost power in 2013.
However, these conversions will only be ‘on demand’ — if such technology is required to deliver the desired higher speed service to individual premises.
Regardless, the extension of fibre to service the latest additional premises will cover parts of the following towns and suburbs:
- NSW: Campbelltown, Elderslie, Narellan, Maitland, Singleton, Tarro, New Lambton, Bathurst and Orange.
- Victoria: Deer Park, Sydenham, Berwick South, Cranbourne and additional areas of Narre Warren.
- Queensland: Albany Creek, Ashgrove, Bald Hills, Ferny Hills, Robina, Burleigh Heads and Townsville.
- South Australia: Elizabeth, Gepps Cross, Salisbury and Golden Grove.
- Western Australia: Girrawheen, Kingsley, Wanneroo, Canning Vale and Jandakot South.
These are among the areas where the company anticipates strong demand for higher speeds, where it can deploy with speed and agility and where it is cost-effective to start work now.
The latest move follows an earlier announcement in October 2020 when NBN Co started work on the initial program to design and construct new fibre into communities currently served by FttN technology.
The company said it will progressively continue to select, design and construct new fibre extensions over the next two years and is aiming to pass around 2 million premises by the end of 2023.
NBN Co’s previous announcement in October 2020 included premises in parts of:
- Belmont North, Charlestown, Toronto, Carramar, Castle Hill, Holsworthy, Liverpool, and Wetherill Park in New South Wales.
- Lyndhurst and Narre Warren in Victoria.
- Acacia Ridge, Browns Plains, Eight Mile Plains and Oxenford in Queensland.
- Osborne in South Australia.
- Cannington and Double View in Western Australia.
The naming of the latest locations targeted for additional fibre comes as NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue flags in the company’s first half results that it is on track to enjoy positive full-year earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first time, despite pledging additional capacity and retailer discounts last year.
