NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue
NBN Co is to extend its fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) network to another 100,000 homes as part of a recently announced $4.5 billion upgrade.
The new roll-out will cover all states excluding Tasmania and the Northern Territory, comprising of metropolitan and regional areas.
The broadband builder said it will consult with retail service providers before carrying out the upgrade, adding it will reveal more in 2021 about its future rollout plans.
NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue said this year’s mass pivot to remote working had spurred a strong demand for higher broadband speed.
“We have connected more than 950,000 premises to the NBN network this year alone, and there has been increasing interest from customers connecting to the NBN for the first time for plans offering download speeds of around 100 Mbps or better,” he said.
“Throughout 2020, as people have worked, studied and increasingly entertained themselves at home, approximately 55,000 customers have chosen to upgrade via their internet provider to plans offering download speeds of around 100 Mbps or better.”
The announcement follows NBN Co’s pledge to invest $3.5 billion into fibre upgrades, including its existing fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) connections.
The upgrade will see the NBN's highest wholesale speed tiers made available for up to 75 per cent of homes and businesses by 2023.
NBN Co claimed it will offer a quarter of its hybrid fibre cable (HFC) network upgrade to speeds of 500 Mbps by the end of next month.
