Telstra to trial Tassie NBN

Telco giant Telstra is set to offer free trials of its broadband services to 100 customers in Tasmania on the National Broadband Network (NBN) from October.

Telstra will select 100 customers from the NBN's stage one sites in Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithton in Tasmania for the trial that will run from October to December, the telco's CEO David Thodey announced at Tasmania's Growth Summit this morning.

Joining the broadband network will be new territory for Telstra, which has, until now, serviced customers via its own infrastructure.

"It's unusual for Telstra to access another network rather than use our own, so it's important we ensure our products and services work smoothly," Thodey said in a statement. "The pilot is an opportunity for Telstra to assess how BigPond broadband services and next-generation digital home products such as T-Hub and T-Box perform over the NBN," Thodey said in a statement.

Customers on the trial will not be charged for the services.

Thodey also used the event to highlight the strides e-health had made in the state using Telstra's Next G mobile network.

"Using the Next G network and smart software, community nurses are able to stream live video and audio from their mobile phones while visiting a patient's home," he said.

"The live video streams can be watched by multiple healthcare professionals anywhere in the world. And those specialists can communicate with the community nurse via a chat screen while watching and listening to the video stream," he added.

Telstra's trial follows ISPs iiNet, iPrimus, Internode, and Exetel, which already offer full broadband services on the NBN in the Apple Isle.

Telstra is expected to reveal the details of its $11 billion deal with NBN Co that will provide the company with access to Telstra's infrastructure and move customers onto the $43 billion network prior to its annual general meeting in November.