For many businesses, migrating important services to the nbn™ broadband access network can be a complex task that often requires additional time and support to minimise disruption to vital operations.

Last year, we started urging businesses with copper-based Special Services such as Ethernet Lite, Wholesale Business Digital Subscriber Lines (BDSL) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) to work with their phone and internet providers to migrate to the nbn™ access network ahead of the first disconnections from November 2018.

While there has been forced disconnection dates for most standard services used by businesses such as phone, internet, and EFTPOS since 2014, this is the first time there has been a forced disconnection of Special Services, which often simultaneously use voice, video and data.

We estimate there are around 200,000 Special Services located across Australia that may need to migrate to the nbn™ access network, which means business customers and phone and internet providers need to prepare for the transition.

As with any technology upgrade, there is a potential for services to be impacted so we want to ensure we work alongside phone and internet providers to minimise disruption during the migration to the new network.

NBN Co already offers a range of wholesale business-grade solutions including symmetrical speeds, Committed Information Rate (CIR) bandwidth and enhanced service levels to ensure that business customers can access the speeds and assistance they need to support their critical applications.  

Improving the migration experience

NBN Co can also offer phone and internet providers the option to select a subsequent installation to assist during the migration of services to the nbn™ access network.

This means NBN Co can build a new temporary parallel line on the nbn™ access network, and test applications and services on the new line before coordinating a migration with the phone or internet provider at a time that is best suited to the business customer.

The advantage of having a new line installed prior to the migration of Special Services is that it can help minimise disruption when transitioning services, and means businesses can ensure migration fits around the day-to-day operations while reducing the risk of going offline.

After industry consultation, I am pleased to announce we will now credit a $270 subsequent installation fee previously passed on to phone and internet providers for business customers migrating their Special Services over Fibre-to-the-Node and Fibre-to-the-Building technology to a separate line on the nbn™ access network.*

This new offer is set to encourage phone and internet providers to migrate well ahead of the disconnection date as well as improve the experience for businesses transitioning services by reducing network disruption and downtime.

Planning for success

Our newly established business division is making significant headway working alongside phone and internet providers to introduce custom-built products and service solutions to help businesses make the most out of access to fast broadband.

The introduction of this new subsequent installation offer reinforces that we are committed to working with industry to improve the experience for businesses migrating to the nbn™ access network.  

To make sure businesses are ready to migrate services, we are ramping up our education campaign, which includes updated information on the NBN Co website, direct mail, training for the ICT channel, and one-on-one engagement with industry and enterprise customers who may be affected.

As the rollout scales, we expect more Australian businesses to access fast broadband to open up new market opportunities, facilitate better engagement with customers and embrace cloud-based applications.

The migration of Special Services is not an automatic process so to ensure a successful migration of these services to the nbn™ access network before disconnection, we recommend you get in touch with your phone and internet provider and make a plan to migrate as soon as possible.  

*The new line installation offer is available subject to specific conditions and where a Traffic Class 2 service is ordered by the phone or internet provider. 

Disconnection dates vary and not all Special Services will be disconnected. To find out if your services will be affected, and applicable disconnection dates, contact your phone or internet service provider.