The delay announced by NBN Co in allowing consumers to connect to the national broadband network from the HFC network is likely to hit small and new entrants into the field of retail service providers.
NBN Co, the company rolling out the national broadband network, announced in the last week of November that it would be stopping the connection of those who are allotted HFC from December 11.
A delay of anything from six to nine months is expected, according to the company.
Nicholas Demos, managing director of one new entrant, MyRepublic, claimed that most consumers who took up connections with small and new entrants to the rank of RSPs would be new customers.
{loadposition sam08}Given this, the delay in getting HFC customers meat that there would be marked drop in revenue for new and small ISPs, the two categories who needed the money most.
In the case of bigger providers — like Telstra — most NBN subscribers were those who were moving from one account with the provider to an NBN plan.
Hence, it would not mean a total cutoff of revenue as the company would continue to earn what it was pulling in from older connection, either ADSL or cable.
Demos has in the past hit out at the big four ISPs — Telstra, Optus, TPG and Vocus — saying that they have no interest in making the NBN an attractive proposition because it was a direct competitor to their businesses.