Update 5:03pm: The link to the test agreement was incorrect in the original article. The link has since been updated.
In their second FTTN trial “test agreement” released today, NBN Co reveals that they’ve begun planning for an additional 200-end users to trial and test the Fibre to the Node network. Unlike the FTTN technology pilot which began in the middle of last year at Umina Beach, this trial appears to be user-centric.
iTnews reports that this trial will take place in the Lake Macquarie region.
“iTnews understands the trial will take place in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW.”
Earlier this week at a Senate hearing, Telstra admitted that the earlier FTTN technology pilot run at Umina Beach was to test the FTTN technology and that further trials would be needed to establish the actual experience and speeds that end users can expect at a commercial launch:
“We don’t believe the trial represents real world experience, it was operating over spare copper pairs… In terms of customer experience, we would be of the view there are other trials which we believe may be occurring in the future, that we have to look at.”
However, based on the test agreement released today, this additional 200 end-user trial will still rely primarily be a “Second Line Pilot” where an unused or new phone line is connected to the end-user premises for the Internet connection. The agreement states that only a “limited number of Single Line Pilot” premises will be nominated by NBN Co, to test the performance of existing phone lines:
“a limited number of Single Line Pilot Premises nominated by NBN Co and agreed to by Test Participant”
It is expected that the FTTN product will be ready for initial product release by the third quarter of this year.
