We have already connected over 200,000 premises to our hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) network and most of these premises have had a positive connection experience.

It has been pleasing to see such high demand for the HFC network – nbn is currently activating about 10,000 end users every week.

However, we are well aware that there have also been too many cases where homes and businesses have waited far longer from the time they ordered their service from their retailer to actually being connected to the nbn HFC network.

The prime reason for this has been that for around half of the premises ordering an nbn HFC service, nbn needs to visit the premises and build a new lead-in conduit to connect the co-axial cable into the premises – something that can often be problematic and can cause delays.

A new way

Recognising the complexity involved in connecting some of these premises, we have decided to hold back a proportion of these premises in order to better manage consumer expectations on wait times once they’ve placed an order.

From 1 September 2017, nbn will only release a new HFC footprint to market where there is a lead-in to the premises already in place.

Premises in the HFC footprint that require additional work to be connected to the nbn™ broadband access network will be ring-fenced and will not be able to order an nbn service immediately.

Consumers will be able to place an order for a service with a retail service provider when their premises becomes ‘ready to connect’ after the additional work has been completed.

Specialised construction crews will be deployed to complete the additional work required to connect these premises to the nbn™ broadband access network – much of this work will involve building these new lead-ins for premises where none currently exists.

Residents impacted by this change will receive notification via direct mail advising them there is further work required before they can order a service, and an approximate timeframe for when that work will be completed.

nbn is also conducting a trial programme with retail service providers to improve the trouble shooting process for faults on the HFC network. The aim of the trial is to reduce the time to restore faults and improve customer satisfaction.