FTTN will help get Australians connected to the nbn™ network faster

nbn has taken another big step towards our goal of connecting 8 million premises to the nbn™ network by 2020 with the launch of our commercial Fibre to the Node (FTTN) product.

Our FTTN technology delivers fast broadband via fibre-optic cable that runs to a neighbourhood node/cabinet and from there using the copper lines to deliver high-speed broadband ultimately via VDSL technology.

This makes deployment faster than other broadband technologies such as FTTP, as the entire connection from the exchange to most homes and businesses won’t need to be replaced – but with short distances between end-users and the FTTN cabinet very high speeds can still be achieved.

Our initial FTTN rollout has launched in Belmont, NSW, with nbn aiming to have 500,000 FTTN premises Ready for Service (RFS) by mid-2016 and 3.7 million by mid-2018.

With a much simpler installation process on FTTN (as compared to other technologies such as FTTP), nbn also expects that it will also be able to activate end-users much faster than on other broadband technologies. More than 1.6 million homes and businesses are expected to be connected to the nbn™ network via FTTN technology by mid-2018.

nbn has already signed Wholesale Broadband Agreements (WBA) with over twenty Retail Service Providers (RSPs) including Telstra, Optus, Optus Wholesale, Exetel, TPG, iiNet, AAPT, SkyMesh, Harbour ISP and M2 Group (Dodo, iPrimus, Commander) to sell FTTN services.

John Simon, Chief Customer Officer at nbn said:

“The launch of FTTN technology will help us get fast broadband to Australians more quickly and with less inconvenience to end-users.

“We are looking forward to getting this part of the nbn™ network fully built out and allowing Australians to enjoy the huge benefits of fast broadband.”

Tony Cross, Chief Architect at nbn said:

“Overseas experience in markets like the UK and Germany has proven the value of FTTN in delivering fast broadband services to millions of premises both quickly and cost effectively.

“Our own FTTN end-user trials have been hugely encouraging in showing that FTTN can deliver great speeds to Australians, with most end-users on the trial getting wholesale speeds of 100Mbps (download) and 40Mbps (upload).”*

Notes

• nbn is developing other multi technology products which will be released over time.
• Using the multi-technology-mix nbn aims to connect eight million homes and business, providing wholesale download data rates of up to 25 Mbps to all premises and at least 50 Mbps to 90 per cent of fixed line premises as soon as possible.

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