Four suburbs across Queensland and New South Wales have been selected to take part in a construction trial designed to speed up the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

The homes and businesses potentially included in the trial are among the more than three million premises that sit inside the Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) cable footprint currently owned by Optus and Telstra.

Following deals signed last December, these cables may be progressively incorporated into the National Broadband Network* and are planned to be used to deliver fast broadband services to homes and businesses within that footprint.

The goal of the trials is to test construction processes to physically connect homes passed by the networks where a connection currently doesn’t exist as well as improving network capacity and broadband speeds consumers may receive.

The areas that make up the trial are:

State	Suburb**
NSW	Emu Plains
QLD	Redcliffe Slacks Creek Merrimac

NBN Co’s Chief Technology Officer, Dennis Steiger, said:

“These construction trials are an important step in our goal towards ensuring all Australians are able to receive fast broadband as soon as possible.

“We’re already planning upgrades to the HFC network to enable families and businesses to receive higher speeds. The aim of this construction trial is to deliver valuable insights into how to deploy that upgraded HFC network at scale.

The construction trials are planned to progressively begin from mid-2015, ahead of the large scale integration of HFC technology into the network which is scheduled for commencement in 2016. 

Media enquiries:

Frances Kearey
M: 0418 416 408
E: franceskearey@nbnco.com.au 

NBN Co Media Hotline
P: 02 9927 4200
E: media@nbnco.com.au 

Notes to editors:

• NBN Co’s objective is to ensure that by 2020:

o    all homes, businesses and communities across Australia can access high speed broadband;

o     8 million premises are connected to the NBN;

o     the company generates more than $4 billion of annual revenue;

o     less than the capped $29.5bn of government equity funding is used.

* The agreements with Telstra and Optus are subject to the satisfaction of  a number of conditions precedent.

** The exact number of premises as well as the exact suburbs covered may vary once NBN Co has finalised its construction planning.

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