​NBN adding 10,000 fibre services per week

NBN switched on an average 10,000 new fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) services per week in the second calendar half of 2014, taking total active connections to 736,000.

The company building the national broadband network said the number of premises that can order an NBN service reached nearly 1.7 million, with 450,000 homes and businesses added over the period.

NBN said total revenue for the half was $164 million, an increase of 152 per cent compared to the six month period a year earlier, with an average revenue per user of $43 per month.

NBN, CEO, Bill Morrow, said 2015 was a year when the company met or exceeded every target set by its board.

“There is accelerated growth across all areas of the network, while important milestones are continually achieved with customers, industry partners and the NBN workforce,” he said.

NBN said more than 120,000 premises are now ready for the FTTN service with demand strong in initial launch areas such as Bundaberg in QLD and Belmont in NSW.

The company said more than 600,000 premises are currently under construction a further 1.29 million in design and preparation, and it was on track to meet full its full year ‘ready for service’ target of 500,000 FTTN premises.

Meanwhile, hybrid fibre co-axial (HFC) and end user construction trials were conducted in multiple states. NBN also this week said it had engaged service providers Activ8me, SkyMesh, and Harbour ISP to conduct a customer field trial of its satellite service with 200 users in Victoria.

“We are now seeing the early signs of the network being built at scale, with the construction of FTTN rapidly extending the footprint to homes and businesses. We are also encouraged by the end user demand in our initial launch areas.”

Commenting on NBN's results today, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) said NBN underestimated the demand for capacity.

The 2016 NBN corporate plan, released in August last year, predicted that the average revenue per user would increase to $44 by FY2018. At $43, it has nearly hit that level already," ACCAN said.

According to the organisation, maintaining the CVC pricing level is likely to result in services being unattainable and unaffordable for consumers, result in lower take up rates of services and reduce the efficient use of the NBN network.

“The increase in data consumption without a reduction in capacity pricing impacts on the affordability of broadband services,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin.

“While we know that there is an examination of CVC pricing being undertaken currently, not acting now is making broadband services more expensive for consumers in the interim period. ACCAN would like to see action by NBN to reduce CVC pricing.”

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