NBN Co’s fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) customer pilot has begun and the first customers have been connected via FTTN technology.
Small business owner Martin McInnes from Umina on the Central Coast of New South Wales was one of the first people in Australia to sign up to NBN Co’s customer pilot of fast broadband via FTTN technology.
Via an FTTN connection Mr McInnes has been able to reach download speeds of up to 96 mbps and upload speeds of up to 30 mbps which he says has helped him to reduce the time it takes to perform daily work tasks and open up his business to international clients.
NBN Co is currently trialling FTTN technology in accordance with the current federal government’s rollout policy. FTTN technology marries fibre optic cables with Telstra’s copper lines in a streetside node cabinet to deliver fast broadband to homes and businesses.
Another FTTN trial is underway to test the planning, design and construction of 1000 nodes across Queensland and New South Wales in conjunction with Telstra. NBN Co today announced plans to independently build more than 300 additional nodes within Woy Woy, New South Wales and Warner, Queensland.
NBN Co’s CEO Bill Morrow said:
“These initiatives are key components in progressing NBN Co’s move to a mix of broadband technologies which will help us scale-up the NBN rollout across the country.
“The early results and real customer experiences such as Mr McInnes’s demonstrate that existing technologies such as the copper network are capable of playing a vital role in delivering the NBN quicker, more efficiently and cheaper for all Australians.
“Our plans to build more than 300 additional nodes on top of our construction trial with Telstra will see us benchmark industry best practices as we gear up for wide-scale deployment of the FTTN technology.”
Umina resident and small business owner Martin McInnes said:
“Since connecting to my Telstra NBN service, the faster download times have helped me save 10 to 15 minutes off my daily work schedule. This roughly gives me an extra day off each month which I’m planning to use to pick up my passion for skydiving again – something that my previous workload prevented me from doing.”
“The NBN is also bringing us closer to the opportunities of other Australian inner cities. I’m already seeing exciting prospects for my business such as taking on new clients in areas outside of the Central Coast now that I have the bandwidth to support High Definition (HD) video conferencing applications.”
Senior Analyst for Ovum Kamalini Ganguly said:
“FTTN is a cost-effective method delivering fast broadband. This technology can deliver enough bandwidth to enable consumer applications such as teleworking, telehealth and multi-media online gaming.
“AT&T, Deutsche Telekom and Belgacom are among some of the operators that have successfully deployed FTTN broadband rollouts around the world.”
