NetComm Wireless Limited has announced a Master Equipment and Services Supply Agreement with Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), for the supply of fiber-to-the-distribution-point (FttDP) or fiber-to-the-curb (FttC) Distribution Point Units (DPUs) and related services, with the likely commencement of supply during the financial year of 2018.
Under the Master Equipment and Services Supply Agreement, NetComm Wireless will supply an unspecified number of one-port and four-port DPUs to be installed in pits outside premises to connect the legacy copper with fiber.
Shares in the Australian tech firm have soared on news the company has signed a major hardware supply deal with NBN, the company building the national broadband network. The deal was announced after the close of trade on Tuesday, and Netcomm shares gained 53 cents, or 24 per cent, to $2.74 on Wednesday.
CEO and managing director David Stewart says the DPU solution to be used was “specifically developed” for NBN.
“The NBN is an important national initiative and we are proud to be connecting Australians with our innovative technology. Our team specifically developed this FTTdp solution to help build out the NBN network in a faster more cost effective way. What’s exciting is that our solution for FTTdp has broader, global applications that will open up additional partnership prospects offshore, as we have done with NetComm Wireless’ fixed wireless solution.
“NBN is delighted to bring NetComm Wireless on board as a technology partner. We have tested FttC over the past year, and we’re confident we can now deploy the technology in areas where it makes better sense from a customer experience, deployment efficiency, and cost perspective.
NBN chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan said.
Delivering FttC will not only allow us to deliver speeds of up to 100/40Mbps using VDSL, but will also allow us to offer even faster speeds in the future with some of the new technologies that are becoming available.
NBN has a flexible and technology-agnostic approach to deploying the NBN network, and we are confident that when we launch FttC services we will deliver a great experience for end users.
NBN has been trailing FttDP across Sydney and Melbourne since April, previously saying that it would look at launching FttDP services in 2018 for “several hundred thousand” premises. In October last year, NBN signaled its intent to deploy FttDP for premises that are located more than 1 kilometer from a node.
Last week, the Australian government announced that it would be loaning the extra AU$19.5 billion needed for NBN to complete its roll-out of high-speed broadband across the nation.
