20 June 2011
In December the Federal Government had announced that from 1 January 2011, its wholly-owned subsidiary, NBN Co, will be responsible for the installation of fibre in:
- all broadacre developments
- all infill developments where it has fibre that is ready for service and capable of connection; and
- newly approved infill developments of 100 or more premises.
For infill developments of less than 100 premises, Telstra was to be responsible for delivering infrastructure and services, pending NBN Co being ready to provide a fibre service in that area that is capable of connection to the premises.
We have previously highlighted the problems with the use of definitions such as infill and broadacre development to determine who actually is the provider of last resort. These imprecise terms caused confusion and buck passing between NBN Co and Telstra.
On 15 June 2011 the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy announced refinements to the arrangements for the provision of fibre in new developments.
The new arrangements now say that:
- NBN Co is responsible as fibre provider of last resort for developments of 100 or more lots or units that receive planning approval after 1 January 2011;
- Telstra is responsible as provider of last resort for developments of less than 100 lots or units approved after 1 January 2011, pending NBN Co rolling out fibre; and
- Telstra is also responsible as provider of last resort for developments approved before 1 January 2011 and still awaiting infrastructure.
The terms infill and broadacre are no longer used.
Telstra will generally provide copper infrastructure, pending the roll out of fibre by NBN Co. In some limited circumstances – for example, due to a short timeframe between construction and fibre rollout – Telstra may provide wireless services as an interim solution. The Governments media release is here.
