NBN Co releases third broadband agreement

Drops the “Co” and “Bitstream Service” from product name, but retains pricing structure

NBN Co, the company responsible for building and operating the National Broadband Network, released the third version of its Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA3) last Friday.

In the new agreement, the company renamed its main product previously known as “NBN Co Ethernet Bitstream Service” (NEBS) to simply “nbn™ Ethernet”.

The new agreement also combines several documents including the product description, technical specifications, price list and fair use policy into a single document now known as the “WBA nbn™ Ethernet Product Module”.

In a separate media release published on the NBN Co website, the company also revealed it plans to trial a new appointments system.  The new system will allow end users to reschedule appointments with installers directly, rather than having to contact through their service provider.

Pricing structure remains unchanged for now

Despite having recently consulted with its retail partners to make changes to current two-component pricing structure, the company did not include a new pricing structure in this version of WBA3.

The company has indicated it will reveal its intentions for the new pricing structure by the end of the year.

NBN Co to trial traffic lights services

Releases technical trial agreement for services to “non-premises transport infrastructure sites”

NBN Co, the company responsible for building and operating the National Broadband Network, has released a new test agreement to test the feasibility of using NBN services to connect transport infrastructure sites like traffic lights and cameras.

According to the test agreement, the trial is set to begin on or around 27th November and will run for approximately 17 weeks.

NBN Co plans to provide test services in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.  Service providers will also need to enter into an agreement with the relevant transport authority in each state to participate in the trial.

Only FTTN and FTTP to be tested

As part of the trial, NBN Co will only test the feasibility of two access technologies in the Multi-Technology Mix.  NBN Co will extend its Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) networks to agreed test sites.  However, the company’s third fixed-line access technology HFC will not be part of the trial.

The trial will also make use of a new FTTP small form-factor network termination device (SFP NTD) rather than the standard issue F-NTD used in standard premises.