nbn scales to meet first quarter targets

With solid foundations in place, thousands more have connected to the nbn™ network

nbn – the company rolling out Australia’s broadband network – has produced a first quarter of strong results. The company has demonstrated continuing momentum and further ability to scale the business leveraging the multi-technology mix (MTM) to bring broadband access to thousands more Australians.

For the quarter ended 30 September 2016:

• Additional 338,000 premises Ready for Service, 3.2 million in total;
• Additional 280,000 active end users, 1.4 million in total;
• $181 million revenue.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, nbn has added another 338,000 premises to the footprint able to order an nbn™ service. 

The increase in premises Ready for Service (RFS) has gained traction through Fibre to the Node (FTTN) network construction efficiencies with more than one million homes now able to order an FTTN or Fibre to the Basement (FTTB) service.  

FTTB and FTTN were introduced in February and September 2015, respectively, demonstrating the significant pace of scale achieved through these technologies.

With the MTM model now in place, the rollout continues to accelerate (recently adding more than 67,000 homes and businesses to the footprint in a single week).

The number of end users with retail services over the nbn™ network has also increased to 1.4 million at end September.

Revenue for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 was $181 million, an increase of 148 per cent against the first quarter revenue of the previous financial year.

nbn CEO Bill Morrow said:

“It is pleasing to see nbn setting strong foundations, delivering on plans and gaining efficiencies at every corner as we rollout the nbn™ network at scale.  We know that the next two years will be even tougher, as we double our efforts to bring access to fast broadband to all Australians by 2020. The team is proven and ready for the challenge.”

Connecting Australia                                                                   

Mr Morrow said that the MTM foundations have now been put in place, with all major contracts signed, and associated systems and processes now built for speed. The latest technology to launch, HFC, will start to gain momentum in the second half of the year, while the benefits of the fast-to-implement FTTN are currently helping drive an overall footprint expansion.

“We are now 30 per cent complete in terms of current premises able to order a service, with the company able to bring on whole suburbs in a month due to the MTM approach.  We are rolling the network out faster than ever before and we well on our way towards our 2020 target.”

“If you don’t have access to the nbn™ network yet, chances are you will know someone who has. Today, nearly one in three homes in Australia can connect and we are working towards it being almost one in two by the end of June,” said Mr Morrow.

Bridging the digital divide

Mr Morrow added that the nbn™ network continues to help bridge the digital divide, with the non-metro footprint now 43 per cent complete.   

“At quarter end we had more than 30,000 end users on the Sky Muster™ satellite service. We continue to see strong demand and we are working with our retailers to bring new users onto the service as soon as possible.

“Of the nearly three and a half million homes that can order an nbn™ service, it’s heartening that around 70 per cent of those are in non-metro Australia,” said Mr Morrow.

“We have recently seen some well-known brands announce their intention to offer retail services over the nbn network, which broadens our customer base and, importantly, increases the offers available to end users.

“We have tough targets in FY2017, but we are working closely with our Delivery Partners and Retail Service Providers who are helping us scale right across Australia.”

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Notes to editors

nbn targets by 2020:

• 11.9 million premises able to connect to the nbn™ network;
• eight million homes and businesses connected to the nbn™ network;
• annual revenue of $5 billion.

Q1 FY2017 results are unaudited results.