nbn, the company behind the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN), has revealed plans to launch a pilot channel program before the end of the year in preparation for a full-blown initiative, which is expected to officially launch sometime during the first quarter of 2018.
The program will offer training and accreditation for technology providers and consultants to educate business customers around connecting to the new network as well as information on applications which can support their business over fast broadband.
In September, the company began searching for executives to fill the roles of ICT channel manager and ICT channel program manager.
At the time, nbn executive manager of ICT channel development, Keith Masterton, said that the channel program manager would drive the marketing and accreditation elements of the program, designed to ensure that as many IT partners as possible were educated about the new network.
In addition, nbn also announced a new dedicated team to enable service providers to offer a smooth transformation to customers.
Enterprise engagement teams and field technicians will also be established to work with phone and internet service providers (ISPs) to ensure a smooth transition, particularly for moving special services such as Ethernet Lite and ISDN to the new network.
Meanwhile, complex and multi-site migrations will be project managed between nbn and the service provider.
nbn will also accelerate the launch of a wholesale direct fibre broadband product to provide access to enterprise-grade high bandwidth designed to achieve symmetrical speeds of up to 1Gbps as well as increased operational support.
The first stage of an industry trial is set to commence this month and is scheduled to be in market by the end of 2018, the company announced.
“We’ve focused our efforts on developing wholesale products and services for residential and small to medium sized businesses during the early stage of the rollout," nbn chief customer officer, John Simon, said.
"As we increasingly move into metro areas we are accelerating the development of our wholesale product suite to meet the needs of enterprise and government businesses.
"We recognise larger organisations require a dedicated support team, which is why we’re scaling up and working with our partners to deliver the types of services these businesses expect with minimal disruption to their organisation."
