History of the NBN

In 2003, the Howard government's Broadband Advisory Group (BAG) recommended the Federal Government work with other governments and industry stakeholders to form a "national broadband network". A subsequent Senate Committee recommended that the Federal Government replace the "increasingly obsolete" copper network with a new network, based on FTTN or alternative technologies.

In 2005, Telstra (while still majority owned by the Federal Government) announced that it would upgrade its aging networks, including rolling out FTTN. This was subsequently put on hold by Telstra then dropped, as they did not wish to provide wholesale access to their retail competitors.

In 2006, the Broadband Connect policy was announced by the Howard Government with an aim of providing greater access to broadband services in rural and regional areas. During this time, there was:

  • OPEL Networks, who was the sole successful bidder in the tender. However, the agreement was terminated in 2008 as they "failed to meet the terms of [the] contract".
  • The "G9 Consortium", who proposed their own FTTN network. However it was rejected by the ACCC in 2007 due to unknown conditions for access.

In 2007, the Labor party propsed a "super-fast" national broadband network, if elected. After their election, a request for proposals (RFP) was issued with 6 proposals being received. Telstra's submission was subsequently excluded as they did not address the requirements of the RFP (and their submission was very light on information, at about 12 pages in length). The other bidders were unable to meet the requirements (including raising necessary capital during the global financial crisis), so the RFP process was terminated in 2009.

In 2009, the Federal Labor Government announced it would bypass the existing copper network by constructing a new national network combining fibre to the premises (FTTP), fixed wireless and satellite technologies. Tasmania was selected for the initial trial deployment (based on the Tasmanian Government's submission to the RFP above). Additionally, the Federal Government threatened to force a structural separation of Telstra.

NBN Co was established on 9 April 2009 and an implementation study was commissioned. The report from the study was released in 2010 making 82 recommendations, including expanding the fibre footprint to 93% (from the original 80%). Subsequently, NBN Co released its business plan and network design, including increasing the peak speed to 1Gbps (in response to Google Fiber) and giving priority to regional and rural areas during rollout.

In 2011, the "National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011" and other applicable legislation was passed, which included subjecting NBN Co to Freedom Of Information laws and the adoption of uniform wholesale pricing. Furthermore, definitive agreements were reached with:

  • Telstra: Instead of structural separation, Telstra would migrate its customers from the copper or HFC network, to the NBN FTTP network as it was installed in each area. Additionally, Telstra would lease dark-fibre, exchange space and ducts to NBN Co.
  • Optus: They would migrate customers from their HFC network to the NBN FTTP network as it was installed in each area.

Initially, there were five (5) mainland trial sites established, to test various aspects of the installation and projections. These sites were completed in 2011:

  • Brunswick, Melbourne - High density terrace-type architecture
  • Townsville, QLD - Suburban timber fully-detached houses
  • Armidale, NSW - Suburban brick fully-detached houses
  • Minnamurra and Kiama Downs, NSW - Major rural town
  • Willunga, SA - Minor rural town

Further deployments of FTTP plus Fixed Wireless occurred, until the 2013 Federal Election.

With the change of government in September 2013, NBN continued the deployment of FTTP where the installation had already commenced. All future FTTP installations were halted, subject to government reviews and change of policy.

In April 2014, the Multi-Technology Mix NBN was established, with initial mix containing:

  • 26% FTTH (FTTP);
  • 44% FTTN; and
  • 30% HFC from Foxtel.

The first trials for FTTN commenced in 2015, along with the renegotiation of the Telstra and Optus agreements so that NBN could obtain their HFC networks. Subsequent to the agreements, investigation and upgrading of the HFC networks commenced.

Now in 2016, after NBN upgraded and released services on the first HFC location of Redcliffe, QLD, they have confirmed that the Optus HFC network is not fit-for-purpose, something which was leaked late 2015.

Additionally, they have indicated that FTTdp will be included in the "mix", most likely for those premises in the Optus HFC footprint, that cannot be connected to the Telstra HFC.

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