More than 100 new jobs to be created

NBN Co, the company building Australia's National Broadband Network, has today announced its new customer contact centre will be located on the Gold Coast.

The customer contact centre will be located at Varsity Lakes and is set to begin taking calls in the second half of this year.
“Today's announcement is great news as the customer contact centre has capacity to employ around 130 people, of which 100 will be employed within 12 months,” NBN Co's Head of Quality Mike Kaiser said today.

“The customer contact centre will play an important role in communicating how the network is being built and the steps householders and business owners will need to take to connect to the NBN and to move across from older infrastructure to Australia's brand new telecommunications network.

“The new centre will handle the anticipated escalation in NBN queries from the general public, property developers and builders now that the company has begun large-scale rollout of Australia's largest infrastructure project,” he said.

“As NBN Co and our contractors are starting work on the construction and installation phase of the rollout in many communities across Australia we need a dedicated centre to manage inquiries and respond to the great interest in the project.

“While NBN Co is not directly selling broadband services to homeowners and businesses the customer centre will support the work of the retail service providers who will have the ongoing relationship with their customers,” Mr Kaiser said.

The new facility was chosen because it best met a range of criteria set by the company including a substantial population base with an appropriate contact centre employment pool.

Gold Coast Acting Mayor Daphne McDonald has welcomed NBN Co's decision to locate the customer contact centre in the city.
"Hot on the back of the news the Gold Coast has been included in the NBN's three year rollout, this is another win for the Gold Coast with the call centre bringing 100 new jobs to the city in the next 12 months,” she said.

NBN Co's fibre optic service is currently delivering better broadband to cities and suburbs across Australia containing 18,200 premises, including 3000 in Townsville. NBN Co recently announced its three-year rollout plan which is expected to see construction underway in areas covering over 678,600 premises across Queensland by June 2015, including around 80,000 on the Gold Coast.
Mr Kaiser said the company is expected to begin recruitment for the new facility this month.

- ends -

Notes to Editors

• The National Broadband Network is a national project to deliver high-speed broadband to every Australian premise with a combination of fibre, fixed wireless and satellite and provide an important upgrade to our telecommunications.
• NBN Co's fibre optic broadband service offers telcos and ISPs wholesale download speeds of up to 100 Mbps*. It aims to serve 93 per cent of Australian premises by 2021. The remaining 7 per cent of premises will receive high-speed broadband via fixed-wireless and satellite, with the rollout of both services expected to be complete by 2015.

* NBN Co is designing the NBN to be capable of delivering these speeds to NBN Co's wholesale customers (telephone and internet service providers). Speeds achieved by retail customers will depend on a number of factors including the quality of their equipment and in-premises connection, the broadband plans offered by their service provider and how their service provider designs its network to cater for multiple end users.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Holly Hearne
Phone: 02 8918 8408
Mobile: 0427 957 393

Downloads