On Tuesday, NBN Co announced it will spend $700 million for a suite of initiatives aimed at bringing more businesses onto the network, including for those in regional areas.
This announcement comes just one day before NBN is set to release its new corporate plans.
“NBN Co is dedicating further investment to help give businesses the flexibility and reliability they will need to boost growth and productivity. These initiatives significantly expand the national reach for internet retailers to offer solutions based on wholesale business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet services, increasing choice and availability for businesses across the country,” the company’s statement reads.
How will the NBN’s announcement affect its business customers?
The major part part of the announcement is a plan to create 240 “business fibre zones”. These zones are areas where businesses get access to the company’s fastest fibre connections at “significantly reduced whole prices”, claiming up to a 67 per cent reduction in some cases
According to the company, these zones will include 700,000 business premises. 85 of the zones will be in regional areas and 14 have been targeted at existing health precincts like areas with hospitals and research facilities.
Other parts of the initiative include spending $50 million over three years to work with federal, state and local government to plan future business fibre zones. And, NBN Co will stop charging businesses for building the fibre and won’t even charge their ISPs if the business signs up for a three year plan.
NBN Co chief executive officer Stephen Rue said the investment reflects the company’s commitment to helping Australian businesses.
“Having helped level the playing field for residential internet services with the rollout of the nbn™ network, we are now turning our attention to accessibility for our premium-grade business services, helping businesses in regional areas access the benefits of competition, enhanced broadband support services, and better wholesale nbn prices for the digital services they need to succeed,” he said.
You can find a full list of the initial fibre zones over on the NBN blog post.