X
Business

NBN docs: timelines and products

The Federal Government has released a timeline stretching to 2012 for the National Broadband Network (NBN) in its summary of the NBN Co business case released this afternoon.
Written by Darren Pauli, Contributor

The Federal Government has released a timeline stretching to 2012 for the National Broadband Network (NBN) in its summary of the NBN Co business case released this afternoon.

Blue grid

(Blue grid image, by Torley Olmstead, CC BY-SA 2.0)

The summary was made public following lengthy negotiations with Independent Senator Nick Xenophon over telecommunications industry reform legislation, but the full document was withheld because it contained confidential commercial information, according to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Timelines

Detailed design of the second NBN release sites are due before month's end and construction is earmarked for February. Full-scale deployment of the now $35.7 billion network is set for June.

Next year, NBN Co will finalise the design of the network's wireless and satellite portions which will connect regional and rural Australians to the NBN. Construction will start in November. The government is currently negotiating for a slice of wireless spectrum and hopes to have these discussions wrapped up by year's end.

It will pay for spare satellite capacity from providers to deliver regional broadband from June 2011 until it can launch its own satellites in 2015. The government's Australian Broadband Guarantee program is expected to cease on 30 June 2011.

Deadline Action
December Complete Telstra negotiations: finalise agreements on decommissioning Telstra copper and hybrid-fibre coaxial networks as well as infrastructure usage.
April 2011 Start customer trials: have the capability to connect at least one mainland retail service provider (RSP) with trial customers, offering a free subset of products to test preparedness.
June, 2011 Completion of Telstra definitive agreements: all precedent conditions satisfied, including enabling legislation, ACCC requirements and Telstra shareholder approvals.
September, 2011 Ready for the first commercial service: up to 6 per cent of premises are passed and the network will have the capability to fulfil, activate and assure a limited number of products with multiple RSPs, supported by a combination of basic semi-automated and manual processes.
December, 2011 Ready for business as usual roll-out: builds on capabilities met in September, with up to 19 per cent of premises passed, and some automated processes.
August, 2012 Ready for market: fully automated systems. Multiple RSPs will be certified. Operations capability can fulfil and assure the NBN Co suite of products at scale.

Products

NBN Co will release five product "drops" from April, designed to help RSPs to sell network services.

  1. High speed broadband and telephony: delivers a core set of NBN Co fibre access features to the market, enabling RSPs to test the interoperability of NBN Co services.
  2. Emerging entertainment capability: allows RSPs to build triple-play services by adding the capability to distribute their content.
  3. High speed business services: provides incremental support for business services between remote locations.
  4. High speed enterprise services: delivers 1Gbps for enterprise services, point-to-point links, transparent virtual local area networks, and improved service level agreements for repairs.
  5. Enhanced reliability for mission critical sites: delivers improved network availability to sites such as hospitals and businesses.
Editorial standards