iiNet announces DSL rollout plan

After a three month customer pilot and feasibility study, 32 exchanges will be covered for the initial rollout around the country, replacing part of the capacity currently acquired from iiNet's wholesale provider.

The capital cost of the initial deployment will be around AU$2.3 million, the provider said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The majority of the infrastructure will be commissioned by October and a second deployment is expected in the latter part of 2004.

"The new DSL infrastructure will provide improved service functionality and higher speeds at lower prices than presently available," said iiNet managing director Michael Malone.

"We successfully deployed our own infrastructure with dial-up Internet access and we are now doing the same process with DSL. In the future I see the potential to do the same with telephony," Malone added.

iiNet said they picked Ericsson's Ethernet DSL Access solution for the rollout due to the "scalability of their infrastructure and their focus on customer support."

iiNet confirmed that the integration of ihug Australia and its latest acquisition, Froggy will be completed and contributing in July. iiNet also expects earnings to be AU$14 million in the current half.