The Australian Government’s Telecommunications Infrastructure in New Developments (TIND) policy outlines developer and nbn’s responsibilities for delivering telecommunications infrastructure. 

Key points of the policy are:

• The purpose of the TIND policy is to provide people moving into new developments with ready access to modern telecommunications services, both voice and broadband. 
• Developers are responsible for organising, and meeting the costs of, fibre-ready facilities (e.g. conduits, pit and pipe). Developers are required to provide fibre-ready facilities for all new buildings, units or lots in a development. 
• Developers are also responsible for organising, and contributing to the cost of, phone and internet infrastructure. Developers typically contract with a carrier to provide this infrastructure (see below for information regarding developer charges). 
• Developers are able to choose the carrier that services their developments, including nbn. 
• nbn is the default infrastructure provider for broadband Australia-wide. 
• nbn may charge a one-time end-user contribution (EUC) of up to $300 (including GST) for each premises in a new development. nbn may recover the EUC from phone and internet providers that place an order for an nbn^® service at a premises in a new development (and the providers may choose to pass the charge onto their end-users). Alternatively, nbn may recover the EUC from another person (e.g. a housing authority, landlord or developer). 
• Carriers should install fixed-line networks in new developments unless this is not reasonable, in which case they should use either fixed wireless or satellite technologies.

The TIND policy and new development charges

Under the TIND policy, nbn is able to charge for the infrastructure it provides in new developments and is expected to do so. nbn may charge:

• a developer contribution per lot / premises to the cost of the network; 
• a backhaul contribution per lot / premises, also payable by the developer; and 
• an end-user contribution per premises to the cost of the network. 

The TIND policy sets out the maximum amounts nbn is able to charge for each of these components for typical development projects providing residential, business and other premises. nbn may charge below these amounts if warranted by competitive and commercial forces, but it is not able to charge above them.

nbn may charge other amounts to provide additional services (such as expedited installation). In these circumstances, nbn may charge above the TIND policy caps.

nbn's policy regarding new development charges

Developer contributions charges

nbn has determined that it will recover a developer contribution charge in certain circumstances. Examples include:

• new dwellings or lots being constructed (e.g. houses, apartments, townhouses, villa units); 
• conversion of a warehouse into new apartments; 
• commercial premises – for new lots or tenancies created, including within an existing building or as part of an expansion; 
• broadacre sub-divisions – for example, a greenfield development for a new housing estate; 
• other sub-divisions – for example, in existing urban or brownfields areas (in this case, a developer contribution charge will be imposed for the new lots that are created); and 
• additional services such as fire alarms, security systems, and elevator phone lines. 

For granny flats and outbuildings:

• nbn will recover a developer contribution charge for newly constructed granny flats or outbuildings that are separately titled from the primary dwelling/building (generally when the land for the granny flat or outbuilding is being sub-divided from the primary dwelling/building). 
• nbn will not impose a developer contribution charge if the granny flat or outbuilding is on the same block of land as the primary dwelling/building, where the granny flat is served through an additional nbn service that is independent of the service being supplied to the primary dwelling, but uses the primary dwelling’s nbn^® network connection. 

For knock-down rebuilds:

• nbn will recover a developer contribution charge if you knock down a single house and rebuild more than one premises in its place (e.g. through a subdivision). Each lot/premises will attract a developer contribution charge. 
• nbn will not impose a developer contribution charge if you knock down a single house and rebuild a single house in its place. 
• Please note, if any premises have existing nbn infrastructure, that infrastructure may need to be altered, relocated, removed or protected as part of the knock-down rebuild process. More information can be found here: Modifying nbn^® infrastructure

For vacant blocks, nbn will impose a developer contribution charge, including where a single dwelling is built on a vacant block of land in a brownfield area and there is no existing nbn connection.

The maximum developer contributions nbn may charge are set out in the TIND policy and extracted in the table below. nbn is able to price below these caps, and will determine the amount of the charge on application:

nbn generally defines SDUs and MDUs in the following way:

• SDUs (Single Dwelling Units): An SDU is typically a building with single premises including free standing and terrace housing, or a building with two premises such as a duplex. 
• MDUs (Multi Dwelling Units): An MDU is typically a building with three or more separate premises, or any form of strata, group, company or community title development.

Backhaul contributions

Backhaul contributions (payable by the developer) may apply if nbn backhaul required to connect the new development is not already available.

To determine final costs for your development, including potential backhaul costs, developers must submit a New Development Application for a detailed assessment.

The maximum backhaul contributions nbn may charge are set out in the TIND policy and extracted in the table below:

End-user contributions

Under the TIND policy, nbn may charge a one-time end-user contribution (EUC) of up to $300 (incl. GST) for each premises in a new development. nbn may recover the EUC from phone and internet providers, who may on-charge this amount to end-users at their discretion. Alternatively, nbn may recover the EUC from another person (e.g. a state or territory housing authority, landlord or developer).

Under nbn’s Wholesale Broadband Agreement, the EUC is referred to as the “new developments charge”, and it is generally applied to the phone and internet provider that submits the first order for a nbn service at each premises in a new development.

If you are an end-user, please direct any EUC charge disputes to your phone and internet provider. We have an established process with providers to handle cases where the charge has been incorrectly applied.