Primus releases 6Mbps broadband offering

Campbell Sallabank, general manager strategy, products and development, Primus Telecom, said the new service was "up to four times faster than the premium DSL service currently on offer".

The new high-speed Internet service is available to Primus customers in major cities around Australia who are in access range of upgraded facilities installed by Primus Telecom.

Customers within 1.5 kilometres from an exchange can get broadband connection at around 6Mbps, which Primus says is "approximately 120 times faster than dial up Internet and substantially faster than the 1.5Mbps available over high speed DSL broadband Internet". The minimum connection speed for the product is specified at 2Mbps.

Sallabank also announced two new plans at 2Mbps available with Primus; a AU$29.95 per month plan with 400MB of downloads and a AU$49.95 plan with 12,000MB of data. Primus added that customers who combine their telephone service with high speed Internet will receive 50 free local calls.

Sallabank said customers will be able to receive "cable-like Internet speed over copper wire" at a lower price.

"These speeds allow for much faster downloads and for services such as video streaming, opening the way for movies on demand," he said.

Sallabank added that the new speed has been made possible by Primus's investment in its own broadband network. The technology that enables the new high speed Internet involves the installation in local exchanges of Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAM)--the mechanism that links the customer to the Internet.

Primus is installing its own DSLAMs in approximately 200 exchanges located in and around the major capital cities. "The high-speed service is achieved through setting the port speed on the Primus DSLAMs to their maximum setting. The connection speed of DSL-based Internet diminishes as a customer moves further away from the telephone exchange."

Sallabank said the company was aiming to complete the rollout of the 200 DSLAMs by first half of next year. He added that it intended to increase this to 300 for the second phase of the rollout, with the timeframe to be decided next year.

Primus is aiming to cover 60 percent of the population for the short to medium term in its DSLAM rollout. Sallabank expects more ISPs will be rolling out their own DSLAMs in the future. He said there are around 3 to 4 ISPs currently rolling out their own DSLAM in both metropolitan and regional areas.

Sallabank said that the AU$49.95 data cap is designed so customers do not experience "telco bill shock" after using the new speed being offered. Additional cap plans will be introduced depending on customer demand.