The nbn™ broadband access network is the biggest infrastructure development in Australia’s history, bringing access to fast broadband to everyone, everywhere in Australia.

It’s some job! Australia, as you know, is a large place. It’s home to a diverse range of ecosystems. From tropical rainforests to freezing mountains, harsh deserts to lush reefs, and massive, densely packed cities to single farms bigger than some countries, Australia has it all.

If you’re going to build a unified telecommunications network that will work for everyone – no matter where they are – you have to understand their needs. You have to be conscious of each community and understand their challenges and their aspirations.

This is why I’m so proud to announce the formation of a new team within our organisation: nbn™ local.

What is nbn™ local?

The rollout of the nbn™ access network across Australia passed halfway earlier this year. Already we’re two-thirds of the way to our end goal connecting every Australian home and business by 2020. In fact, up to 100,000 new properties are being made ready for service each week.

With so many Australians now turning to nbn™-powered plans, it’s more important than ever to educate local communities on the status of the rollout.

Individuals, businesses and communities want to know what they need to do to connect and how to resolve any issues. All of this means we need to take our customer service to the next level.

The new nbn™ local team is dedicated to that cause – a key voice and willing ear on the front line, providing a direct conduit between the Australian people and access to fast broadband.

The nbn™ local team isn’t a substitute for the customer service offerings of phone and internet providers. They should always be the first point of contact for any resident or business having issues with their broadband connection.

The new nbn™ local team will work with regional stakeholders and community groups to help ensure larger local problems and concerns are identified early and addressed.

Who is on the nbn™ local team?

The core members of the nbn™ local team are professional community relations specialists.

With nationwide reach, the team will work tirelessly to educate residents and businesses on the nbn rollout status in their area, what process they need to go through to connect and discuss needs around speed and usage.

But it goes deeper than that.

The nbn™ local team will be on the ground with the communities they serve. I believe this is the most effective way to meet each community’s needs and to provide the most effective advice.

To ensure issues are resolved quickly, the team will extend past customer service representatives into network engineers and deployment specialists. They will be located in key regional hubs, and under the direction of the nbn™ local team will be able to act quickly to improve the customer experience. 

Making access efficient, effective and easier

Change, even when it is positive, can be hard. We understand that an evolution as wide-cast as the nbn™ access network represents significant change for consumers and businesses as they make the move to Australia’s new broadband network.

It’s why today’s announcement of the nbn™ local team is so important.

We’re just at the start of what will be a long and exciting journey with the nbn™ access network. This is not a roll-out-and-forget operation. The formation of nbn™ local proves this, but it’s only one of a number of initiatives we currently have coming from our organisation to better improve the experience provided to Australians.

Some of the more notable include our Enhanced Installation Training, which accelerates the hands-on experience our engineers receive in the field in order to improve quality assurance.

Our Advanced Fault Detection system is leveraging big data and machine learning to optimise remote repair of issues that arise.

Plus there is a fresh National Awareness Campaign, which includes an exhaustive network of guides to ensure Australians not only get the right information about availability and plans, but also how to set up their premises and equipment for maximum speeds.

With the majority of Australian homes and businesses now ready for service on the nbn™ access network it’s both important and exciting that we’re driving these new initiatives. The nbn™ local team are in your community – if you see them be sure to go and say hi!

The team