nbn, the company building Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) via a variety of broadband architectures (see "NBN Co revises Australian national broadband deployment plans"), has announced the first areas in which it will deploy fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology. The company expects to reach approximately 700,000 homes in this initial deployment wave.
The deployments will first address suburban customers. Suburbs on the initial deployment list include Burnside, Brooklyn, Coburg North, pockets of Collingwood, Cremorne, Richmond Carolyn Springs, Derrimut, Frankston and Williamstown in Melbourne; and Alexandria, Botany, Caringbah South, Cronulla, Denham Court, Erskineville, Gladesville, Horningsea Park, Hunters Hill, Lugano, Mona Vale, Peakhurst, Revesby, Tennyson Point, Woolooware, and Woronora Heights in Sydney.
The deployment will see nbn roll out fiber to a "telecom pit" outside of a home, where it will connect into a distribution point unit (DPU). The DPU will convert the optical signal to electrical for transport across existing copper connections to the home.
nbn plans to use VDSL2 to supply 100 Mbps downstream and 40 Mbps upstream, the same service it currently offers via its fiber to the premises (FTTP) connections. However, the company has trialled G.fast as well as Nokia's XG.FAST, which offers options to support higher-speed services via the same architecture.
The first deployment will take place Coburg North in Melbourne, where nbn will trial services with retailers in the second half of 2017. The company expects to offer services via the FTTC connections in the first half of next year, when nbn expects to have approximately 100,000 premises connected.
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