National Broadband Network to get its first ISP backer in the form of iiNet

With a recent announcement that it will move its customers over to the National Broadband Network (NBN) that will cost around $43 billion to build, iiNet, which is based in Perth has become the first broadband service provider the offer its support.

By the middle of next year iiNet is planning to move some of its Tasmanian customers over to the new fibre-to-the-home super-fast broadband network that is being built by the federal government according to Steve Dalby, the government and regulatory chief.

Mr Dalby advised ”We’re not making a public announcement, but it’s not a problem for me to say when the NBN starts to provide services to retail organisations like ours, that we want to participate in that process. What we’re working to is a timetable of around about the middle of next year. We’re not looking at putting TV ads in Hobart next month or anything. We’ve got plenty of time to work that through and get services running before the middle of next year.”

Following serious talks with senior members of the NBN, like Mike Quigley, the decision to move customers across was made by iiNet, one of the largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Australia with a customer base of around 600 000.

The agreement between the NBN and iiNet may well spur many other broadband service providers into making announcements of their own in the very near future, although so far nothing has been agreed

Corning, a Victorian-based company was recently awarding the tender to provide the backhaul fibre for the new network. NEC is expected to be another company that will be award work on the NBN and more contracts will soon be announced like the supplying of fibre-optic cabling that will run to peoples homes.

Source – SMH