nbn has announced it has exceeded its three core targets for the 2017 financial year.
Over 12 months ending June 30 2017, nbn reported it almost doubled the amount of premises ready for service, increased the number of homes and businesses with an active NBN service by 1.3 million, and grew its revenue from $421 million to $1billion.
nbn remains confident it will connect Australia to fast broadband on time and budget.
During the year, nbn:
- Launched its second satellite Sky Muster™ II into space
- Announced the introduction of fibre-to-the-curb technology
- Secured funding to complete the rollout
- Reached the halfway built mark
- Applied a new CVC discounting model for retailers. The company also announced forthcoming product enhancements including an increase to the Sky Muster™ data cap
- Announced 100/40Mbps wholesale product on Fixed Wireless
Building a high performance network
nbn delivered a significant year of construction almost doubling the entire footprint to 5.7 million homes ready for service, passing the halfway mark.
When looking at the non-metro footprint alone, the NBN is two thirds completed. The metro footprint is one third completed with a strong focus on construction in major cities scheduled for the 2018 financial year.
nbn CEO, Bill Morrow, said, “To almost double the footprint again on the back last year’s efforts is incredible progress and means many more Australians will have access to fast broadband sooner.
“The momentum has seen the team deliver a record 140,000 premises to the footprint in one week, putting us clearly at the centre of our peak construction period. Our delivery partners and nbn employees have worked tirelessly to reach this incredible pace,” Mr Morrow said.
During the financial year, nbn added another 2.8 million premises to its footprint, exceeding its forecast by 300,000 premises.
“Looking ahead, FY2018 is another significant construction year, and arguably the most visible and difficult as we rollout in high-density cities. We are taking our learnings from the first half of the build, and applying them to ensure greater serviceability and efficiencies, particularly as we introduce fibre-to-the-curb into the mix,” said Mr Morrow.
Approaching 50,000 weekly activations
The number of premises connected to retail services on the NBN grew by 122 per cent during the period to 2.4 million premises, drawing $1 billion in revenue.
While nbn recognised some issues have been raised with the activation process, take-up is both earlier and stronger than expected. At the end of the 18-month migration window, of those who can connect to the NBN more than 75 per cent have done so. This is higher than nbn’s forecast take-up rate, with the majority of connections now occurring in the first six months of the migration window.
“While we have seen a higher volume of issues when connecting, they do remain relative to the pace of the build and reach of the network.
“We continue to improve our processes and integration with those of our delivery partners and retailers for seamless access to retail services on the NBN network,” said Mr Morrow.
“The vast majority of people using the NBN network are satisfied and we are certainly listening to those who are not. This past year, industry end user satisfaction results reinforced the need for simple public information, openness about the network’s capability in comparison to speed packages purchased, and for us all to improve our processes for connections, troubleshooting and complaint escalations. We listen, we adjust, we learn and improve.
“nbn performed well against plan in fiscal 2017, and continues to with almost six million homes and businesses able to connect and nearly three million using services on the network today. The momentum is undeniable.”
