More than one million premises are now ready for connection the National Broadband Network via the fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network as NBN Co speeds up the rollout across the country.
The Turnbull Government has trumpeted the work on rolling out FTTN “barely a year after the first switch-on” and says the number of fibre -to-the node connections available has now overtaken the brownfields fibre-to-the-premises coverage footprint.
More addresses are now able to access the NBN via FTTN and fibre-to-the-basement (FTTB) connections than FTTP, according to the Government.
“In 2013, the Coalition promised to speed up the rollout, and deliver the nbn to households sooner and more affordably. That promise has been upheld,” says the Minister for Communications, Mitch Fifield.
{loadposition peter}But, announcement of the FTTN rollout numbers has not impressed the CEO of Internet Australia, Laurie Patton, who once again has called on the Government to dump its copper-based (FTTN) rollout in favour of a “return to fibre and a 21st Century, future-proofed broadband network”.
NBN Co launched node-based services in September 2015, and the weekly rollout update announced last Friday by the Government shows there are more addresses able to access the NBN via FTTN and fibre-to-the-basement (FTTB) connections than FTTP.
The NBN FTTN/B network now stands at 1,135,000 premises ready to connect (19% of the technology’s proposed service area).
And, in comparison, the FTTP network reaches 1,117,000 premises, despite being under construction since 2010.
“It has taken more than five years to make one million premises serviceable over NBN’s all-fibre architecture and costs the company $4,400 per premises. That cost compares to less than $2,200 per premises to connect with FTTN/B.” the Minister says.
“Rolling out FTTN not only saves time, it avoids damage and disruption outside and inside homes and businesses.”
This latest update from the Government shows the combined number of active FTTN/B premises is 382,647, compared to just 51,000 premises connected to the NBN at the time the Coalition came into Government.
And, the Government says FTTN’s wholesale average speed for connected services stands at 70 Mbps, around double the global average peak connection speed of 36 Mbps as measured by Akamai.