NBN announced its half-year results to Dec. 2015 this morning. The rollout of the Australian-government funded NBN network is accelerating. So-called "premises ready-for-service" more than doubled in 2015 to 1.67 million, with growth accelerating in 2H15.
This growth rate is encouraging, especially considering the fibre-to-the-node service has only just come online, and the HFC based service is yet to launch commercially.
NBN also announced today that it has contracted 10 network partners to build its fibre network. These build agreements with contractors are vital to the NBN keeping its network build on track.
Crucially, these new delivery contracts incorporate key performance-based metrics that will `keep contractors honest' in terms of delivering the fibre network on time, with quality of service guarantees in tow.
We still however, await news that NBN has finalised management construction agreements with Telstra and Optus for HFC, another key part of the NBN network deployment puzzle.
Ovum agrees with Morrow's comment that the main debate around NBN should shift to focus more on what the network will be used for and how industry will innovate to bring valuable local content to market, however, the main focus for NBN itself is to continue to ramp up the network deployment and ensure a smooth migration process for end customers.
