NBN Co

Last updated

NBN Co Limited
Company type State-owned enterprise
Industry Telecommunications
Founded9 April 2009 (2009-04-09)
Headquarters
Melbourne [1]
,
Australia
Key people
  • Philip Knox, interim CEO
  • Kate McKenzie, Chair and non-executive director
Services Wholesale data network
RevenueA$5.5 billion [2]  (2024)
A$141 million [2]  (2024)
A$-1.2 billion [2]  (2024)
Total assets A$38.77 billion [2]  (2024)
Total equity $-3.76 billion [2]  (2024)
Owner Australian Government
Members8.61 million [2]  (2024)
Number of employees
4,354 [2]  (2024)
Website nbnco.com.au

NBN Co Limited, known as simply nbn, is a state-owned corporation of the Australian Government, tasked to design, build and operate Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) as the nation's wholesale broadband provider. The corporation reports to two shareholder ministers: the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Communications. [3]

Contents

History

NBN Co was established on 9 April 2009 under the name of its company number, "ACN 136 533 741 Limited". [4] After the establishment, the Australian Government started referring to the company as "National Broadband Network Company", [5] which became the de facto company name. It was officially named "NBN Co Limited" on 6 October 2009. [6] [7] [8] [9] It traded as "NBN Co" until 26 April 2015 when it began trading simply as "nbn". [10]

In 2019, NBN Co announced that by May 2020 [11] retail service providers will be able to pool all their connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bandwidth nationally.

In February 2020, the company announced that 6.7 million homes and businesses were connected to a plan over the nbn access network – compared with 4.9 million in February 2019. [12]

NBN Co developed a satellite internet program named Sky Muster aimed at rural areas. As of July 2023, over $620 million had been invested. [13] However, the program experienced fierce competition from Starlink satellites. Sky Muster consists of two geosynchronous satellites orbiting over 35,000 km above Earth's surface, resulting in latency times around 600 milliseconds (at 25 Mbps), compared to Starlink's latency of below 40 milliseconds (for 100-200 Mbps). [14]

In February 2017, CEO Bill Morrow stated that there is no significant demand for wired connections above 25 Mbit/s and consideration of upgrading the network will not be undertaken until demand for high-bandwidth services is proven. [15]

In August 2019, CEO Stephen Rue, announced the completion of the $51 billion National Broadband Network by June 2020. [16] However, some service areas were still being rolled out in 2020 and 2021 with FTTP to properties with FTTN or FTTC.

On 6th May 2024, CEO Stephen Rue announced his departure from the company to take the CEO position at Optus. [17]

NBN and retail service providers

The NBN network, at 2022, draws together wired communication (copper, optical and hybrid fibre-coaxial) and radio communication (satellite and fixed wireless networks) at 121 points of interconnect typically located in Telstra owned telephone exchanges<nowiki> throughout Australia. NBN Co also sells access for mobile telecommunication backhaul to mobile telecommunications providers. [18]

At 30 June 2016, Telstra had 45.5%, TPG group had 24.8% and Optus had 12.4% of all end users connecting to the NBN. [19]

There has been a significant failure of the nbn to deliver nominal performance to end users. There has been contention between RSPs and NBN on the reasons for this. Bill Morrow, then CEO of NBN Co, admitted in 2017 that 15% of end users received a poor service through the NBN and were 'seriously dissatisfied'. [20] In addition, Morrow indicated that, at July 2017, prices and performance for end users were suppressed through a 'price war' between RSPs. [21] [22]

Contractual arrangements

NBN Co contracts mainly with RSPs to provide wholesale broadband access, with limited supply of backhaul to other organisations (for example providing backhaul services to Vodafone). [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telstra</span> Australian telecommunications company

Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecommunications company by market share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecommunications in Australia</span>

Telecommunications in Australia refers to communication in Australia through electronic means, using devices such as telephone, television, radio or computer, and services such as the telephony and broadband networks. Telecommunications have always been important in Australia given the "tyranny of distance" with a dispersed population. Governments have driven telecommunication development and have a key role in its regulation.

Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel.

iiNet Australian internet service provider

iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider and telecommunications company that sells NBN plans, 4G and 5G Home Wireless Internet and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. It also sells mobile phone sim-only plans using the Vodafone network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TPG (Internet service provider)</span> Australian internet service provider

TPG is an Australian internet service provider that specialises in consumer and business internet services as well as mobile telephone services. As of August 2015, TPG is the second-largest internet service provider in Australia and is the largest mobile virtual network operator. As such, it has over 671,000 ADSL2+ subscribers, 358,000 landline subscribers and 360,000 mobile subscribers, and owns the second-largest ADSL2+ network in Australia, consisting of 391 ADSL2+ DSLAMs. It also operates in New Zealand.

Subscription television in Australia is provided using technologies such as cable television, satellite television and internet television by a number of companies unified in their provision of a subscription television service. Notable actors in the sector include Foxtel, Netflix and Stan. Regulation of the sector is assured by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exetel</span> Australian internet service provider

Exetel is an Australian ISP which provides ADSL, web hosting, VoIP, and other internet services to customers across Australia. Exetel's headquarters are in offices in Sydney, and its switching centres are distributed in capital city secure data centre facilities around mainland Australia.

Bill Morrow is the former CEO of the government-owned corporation NBN Co responsible for installation and implementation of the National Broadband Network across Australia. His departure was announced in April 2018 and became effective on 1 September 2018. He became CEO of Directv in February, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unwired</span>

Unwired Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian company dedicated to fixed wireless telecommunications network offering carrier grade Internet services. They provided coverage in Melbourne and Sydney. As of 8 March 2010 Unwired had 52,320 customers and 97 employees. The technology used by Unwired was provided by American manufacturer Navini Networks and Venturi Wireless Solutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terria (consortium)</span>

Terria Access Seekers Association, formerly known as G9, was a consortium of Australian Internet service providers that in 2006 formed a consortium to bid for the right to build the proposed National Broadband Network.

Internet in Australia first became available on a permanent basis to universities in Australia in May 1989, via AARNet. Pegasus Networks was Australia's first public Internet provider in June 1989. The first commercial dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP) appeared in capital cities soon after, and by the mid-1990s, almost the entire country had a range of choices of dial-up ISPs. Today, Internet access is available through a range of technologies, i.e. hybrid fibre coaxial cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and satellite Internet. In July 2009, the federal government, in partnership with the industrial sector, began rolling out a nationwide fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and improved fixed wireless and satellite access through the National Broadband Network. Subsequently, the roll out was downgraded to a Multi-Technology Mix on the promise of it being less expensive and with earlier completion. In October 2020, the federal government announced an upgrade by 2023 of NBN fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) services to FTTP for 2 million households, at a cost of A$3.5 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocus Group</span> Australian telecommunications company

Vocus Group Limited, formerly known as Vocus Communications, is an international telecommunications company headquartered in North Sydney, Australia. Founded by James Spenceley as a wholesale, business, government and consumer telecommunications provider, Vocus owns and manages Australia's second largest intercapital fibre network. Vocus provides retail, wholesale and corporate telecommunications services across Australia and New Zealand. Vocus offers data network services such as Internet, dark fibre, IP WAN, unified communications and telephony and cloud services to mid, large and corporate businesses direct and also acts as a wholesaler. The company owns and operates 18 data centres across Australia and New Zealand and has an onshore network operations centre run by the engineers who built the network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Broadband Network</span> Telecommunications network in Australia

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is an Australian national wholesale open-access data network. It includes wired and radio communication components rolled out and operated by NBN Co, a government-owned corporation. Internet service providers, known under NBN as retail service providers or RSPs, contract with NBN to access the data network and sell fixed Internet access to end users.

AusBBS was an Australian Internet service provider (ISP) offering Internet and phone services. It was one of the first ISPs to launch with a specific focus on Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) which is being rolled out by the Federal Government via the fully owned NBN Co. Providers such as AusBBS have also been referred to as Retail Service Providers (RSPs) since the commencement of the NBN.

Amaysim Australia Ltd. is an Australian provider of mobile phone plans. Amaysim operates as a mobile virtual network operator on the Optus mobile network, and specialises in offering a range of SIM-only mobile plans. As of June 2024, Amaysim had over 1.5 million mobile subscribers.

Aussie Broadband is an Australian-operated telecommunication company. It was formed in 2008 after the amalgamation of Wideband Networks and Westvic Broadband.

The National Broadband Network had its origins in 2006 when the Federal Labor Opposition led by Kim Beazley committed the Australian Labor Party, if elected to government to a 'super-fast' national broadband network. Initial attempts to engage key businesses in Australian telecommunications in planning and development; and implementation and operation failed with NBN Co being set up in 2010 to have carriage of the 'largest infrastructure' project in Australia's history.

Michael P. Quigley is an Australian telecommunication business executive. He was the first Chief Executive Officer of NBN Co.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone Australia</span> Australian telecommunications brand

Vodafone Australia is an Australian telecommunications brand providing mobile and fixed broadband services. Vodafone’s mobile network covers more than 23 million Australians, and Vodafone has commenced the rollout of its 5G mobile network. Vodafone NBN fixed broadband services are available in capital cities and selected regional centres. Vodafone is the third-largest wireless carrier in Australia, with 5.8 million subscribers as of 2020.

Boost Tel Pty Ltd, trading as Boost Mobile, is an Australian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) which offers wireless services on the Telstra network.

References

  1. ↑ "NBN Co Limited". Australian Government Directory. Australian Government. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2024 Annual Report (PDF). NBN Co Limited (Report). 6 August 2024. pp. 6, 7, 85, 152, 153, 154, 228. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  3. ↑ Annual Report 2009–2010 (PDF). NBN Co (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  4. ↑ NBN Co Limited, Organisations & Business Names, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, archived from the original on 9 October 2024, retrieved 2 June 2011
  5. ↑ LeMay, Renai; Tindal, Suzanne (27 April 2009), NBN company established, looks for CEO, ZDNet, archived from the original on 9 October 2024, retrieved 1 June 2011
  6. ↑ LeMay, Renai (7 October 2009), It's official: 'NBN Co. Ltd' is the name, ZDNet, archived from the original on 9 October 2024, retrieved 1 June 2011
  7. ↑ Beer, Stan (7 April 2009), NBN to make 49% up for grabs but who wants it?, iTWire, archived from the original on 3 April 2011, retrieved 1 June 2011
  8. ↑ Tindal, Suzanne (1 May 2009), NBN company constitution revealed, ZDNet , retrieved 1 June 2011
  9. ↑ LeMay, Renai (30 April 2009), NBN company details hard to find, ZDNet, archived from the original on 9 October 2024, retrieved 1 June 2011
  10. ↑ Ramli, David (25 April 2015), "NBN Co spends $700,000 to drop 'Co'", The Sydney Morning Herald , archived from the original on 25 August 2018, retrieved 27 April 2015
  11. ↑ Crozier, Ry. "NBN Co to allow internet providers to pool CVC nationally". iTnews. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "Monthly Progress Report February 2020" (PDF). nbnco.com.au (Press release). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2024.
  13. ↑ Bonyhady, Nick; Baird, Lucas (6 July 2023). "NBN aims to match Elon Musk's Starlink but may have to write off $620m" . The Australian Financial Review . Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  14. ↑ Biggs, Tim (7 July 2023). "Telstra's Starlink deal could signal a new era of connectivity in hard-to-reach places". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  15. ↑ Battersby, Lucy (1 March 2017) [28 February 2017]. "Gigabit per second speeds aren't needed yet, NBN Co boss Bill Morrow says" . The Age . Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Ryan, Peter (15 August 2019). "NBN will be complete by mid-2020 within revised budget, says CEO Stephen Rue". ABC News . Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. ↑ Corstorphan, Max (6 May 2024). "NBN chief executive resigns: Stephen Rue to depart as he is named new CEO of Optus". The Nightly . Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  18. 1 2 Pearce, Rohan (3 February 2017). "Vodafone first telco to use NBN for mobile coverage boost". Computerworld . Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  19. ↑ Crozier, Ry (22 September 2016). "Three ISPs take 83 percent of NBN market". itnews. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Smith, Michael; Boyd, Tony (24 July 2017). "NBN to review pricing as part of image problem fix" . The Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  21. ↑ Whigham, Nick (28 July 2017). "NBN embarks on charm offensive to address confusion and complaints". news.com.au . Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  22. ↑ Crozier, Ry (31 July 2017). "NBN Co boss declares war with internet providers: Blames ISPs for performance problems". ITNews. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.