NBN Co announces further extension of fibre to pass 200,000 premises in FTTN footprint as part of $4.5 billion network investment plan

NBN Co today released details of the second tranche of 100,000 premises it will pass as it to extends fibre deeper into communities in selected metropolitan and regional areas of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

It follows an earlier announcement in October 2020 when it started work on the initial program to design and construct new fibre into communities currently served by Fibre to the Node (FTTN) technology. The company 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.

The extension of fibre deeper into communities will ultimately enable customers living and working in affected premises to place an order for a higher speed services, which is likely to trigger the construction of a fibre lead-in direct to individual customers’ premises. This will effectively complete their conversion from Fibre to the Node (FTTN) to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology, on demand, if that is what is required to deliver the desired higher speed service to individual premises.

The extension of fibre to service the 100,000 additional premises announced today will cover parts of the following towns and suburbs:

• Campbelltown, Elderslie, Narellan, Maitland, Singleton, Tarro, New Lambton, Bathurst and Orange in New South Wales;
• Deer Park, Sydenham, Berwick South, Cranbourne and additional areas of Narre Warren in Victoria;
• Albany Creek, Ashgrove, Bald Hills, Ferny Hills, Robina, Burleigh Heads and Townsville in Queensland;
• Elizabeth, Gepps Cross, Salisbury and Golden Grove in South Australia, and
• Girrawheen, Kingsley, Wanneroo, Canning Vale and Jandakot South in Western Australia.

NBN Co’s area selection criteria remains consistent with its determination of first 100,000 premises it will pass in the initial footprint release. This includes areas where the company anticipates strong demand for higher speeds; where it can deploy with speed and agility; where it is cost-effective to start work now; and in a way that the investment is most likely to spread and multiply economic activity across the nation.

NBN Co’s previous announcement in October 2020 included premises in parts of the following towns and suburbs:

• 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, and
• Cannington and Double View in Western Australia.

NBN Co is currently engaged in consultation with internet retailers to define the process by which eligible customers will be informed of, and can inquire about availability and express their interest in ordering a higher speed broadband service¹ and acquiring a fibre lead-in to their premises.

The program is part of NBN Co’s $4.5 billion network investment program, which aims to make nbn’s highest wholesale speed tiers available², as demand arises, to around 8 million premises – or up to 75 per cent of homes and businesses on the fixed line network by 2023.

Notes to editor:

¹ Regardless of the retail service you purchase, the actual wholesale speeds delivered by nbn’s highest wholesale speed tiers of 500 to close to 1000Mbps will be less than 1Gbps due to equipment and network limitations and the peak information rate may fall anywhere in this range. In addition, the HFC Home Ultrafast bandwidth profile downstream service provided to retail providers is a ranged profile with a maximum sustained information rate of 750Mbps. Reference to speeds are not end user speeds; they are wholesale layer 2 peak information rate bandwidth provided to retail providers. An end customer’s experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ network, depends on some factors outside our control (like equipment quality, software, and how your retail service provider designs its network) and the nbn™ technology used for your connection. 

² Wholesale speeds subject to the access technology by which the service is supplied.