NBN Co has welcomed the Australian government’s commitment to invest AUD2.4 billion (USD1.5 billion) to enable to the rollout of full fibre connectivity to more communities across the country. According to NBN Co, the new investment will allow for an additional 1.5 million premises currently served by fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) technology to upgrade to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP). Eligible homes and businesses within the suburbs and towns that comprise the additional 1.5 million premises footprint are expected to be able to order a higher speed service by the end of 2025, while NBN Co has said it will make further announcements regarding the locations to be included in the expanded technology deployment ‘in [the] coming months’.
Commenting, Stephen Rue, Chief Executive Officer at NBN Co, said: ‘We welcome the government’s additional AUD2.4 billion investment in the [National Broadband Network, NBN] … Today’s announcement allows us to set a goal of enabling around ten million premises, or up to 90% of homes and businesses on the fixed line network, to access [the NBN’s] highest residential speed tiers with wholesale download speeds of 500Mbps to close to 1Gbps by the end of 2025.’
NBN Co’s original programme to enable full fibre upgrades to up to two million premises served by FTTN is already well underway, with the wholesaler noting that design and construction activity has been completed within ‘many’ suburbs and towns across Australia and will enable around 550,000 premises currently served by FTTN to upgrade to FTTP by 31 December 2022.