Nbn co has announced a $700 million investment in a suite of initiatives, delivered in partnership with retail internet providers over three years, including the support of regional centres.
The first of these initiatives is the creation of up to 240 NBN Business Fibre Zones across Australia, including a presence in 85 regional centres.
All businesses within these zones will have access to Enterprise Ethernet at significantly reduced wholesale prices. In total, these zones are expected to cover more than 700,000 business premises.
The Business Fibre Zones will include 61 in regional locations such as Bunbury, Mount Gambier, Devonport, Shepparton, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton.
Nationally, 14 of the NBN Business Fibre Zones will be located specifically to underpin existing health precincts – locations which include major hospitals and related research and education facilities – providing a boost for essential services and health innovation.
Secondly, those businesses in NBN Business Fibre Zones will see Enterprise Ethernet pricing reduced, some by up to 67 per cent, giving thousands of regional businesses access to the same support as businesses in capital city centres, at the same wholesale price.
As a long-term investor in regional NSW, TransGrid Telecommunications said it was delighted by the announcement.
TransGrid’s Head of Telecommunications, Glenn Wood, said, “This announcement will help enable a much-needed boost to businesses in regional Australia.
“A key part of TransGrid Telecommunications’ strategy is to bridge the digital divide between metropolitan and regional areas, and this investment will rapidly fast-forward progress.
“Regional businesses have been relying on the slow speeds of residential grade services.
“We can provide Enterprise Ethernet, nbn co’s fastest wholesale product, at affordable prices that will allow businesses to be more competitive, retain jobs and attract more business to the area.”
TransGrid Telecommunications is well-positioned to service NSW customers having already invested in building fibre directly to key NBN points of interconnects (POIs).
“We can provide businesses, government agencies and councils access to symmetrical wholesale speeds suitable for data-intensive applications such as cloud-based tools all at affordable prices,” Mr Wood said.
TransGrid Telecommunications has one of the largest fibre networks in Australia. The business focuses on two main areas: data services and wireless colocation on its towers – with more than 130 telecommunications towers and 37,000 high voltage transmission towers.
“We are positioning ourselves as a challenger, a niche player and a real alternative for backhaul requirements, alternative paths,” Mr Wood said.
“We’ve been very successful selling multiple 100Gbps services to other tier one providers for Sydney to Melbourne because of the network diversity, speed and security of the network.
“We work closely with TransGrid’s infrastructure business unit to provide telecommunications services to the renewable energy sector.
“Building a new wind or solar farm would require three core elements: land, power and telecommunications services, so our one-stop solution is a great value proposition.”
