Half of premises ready to connect to nbn

The nbn now passes more than half of Australian premises after doubling its footprint in the past year, according to nbn co’s latest quarterly results.

There were 6.1 million premises ready to connect to the network — able to order an nbn plan from a retailer — by the end of the first quarter of the financial year, the company said.

Around a further 300,000 premises are ready for service but requiring additional work on the retail service provider’s end before a service can be activated. The number of premises ready for service has grown by 99% since Q1 of last year.

But take-up remains significantly lower than the network’s overall reach, with only 2.9 million premises activated as of 30 September. This is nevertheless a 115% year-on-year improvement.

Revenue for the quarter likewise grew 124% year on year to $405 million, with average revenue per user remaining largely flat at $43.

Capital expenditure meanwhile declined from $1.47 billion in Q1 of 2016 to $1.39 billion last quarter. The lion’s share of spending ($458 million) was allocated towards the fibre-to-the-node rollout, followed by HFC ($365 million) and the transit network ($127 million).

“Strong foundations have been laid by the hardworking nbn team, along with our delivery partners and retailers, playing a significant role in accelerating the rollout and activating services at an extraordinary pace,” nbn CEO Bill Morrow said.

“With confidence we seek to take it a step further to deliver the biggest deployment year in nbn history, which will bring us to three quarters of eligible premises ready for service by the end of fiscal year 2018.”

Pictured: nbn co CEO Bill Morrow. Courtesy nbn co.

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