After an extremely long rollout spanning eight years, NBN Co announced last year it would be upgrading half the outdated FTTN network to FTTP.
In the 12 months since this announcement, NBN Co has been steadily revealing which suburbs will be next in line for a full-fibre upgrade. This week another 300,000 homes and businesses have been added to that list.
What is the FTTP NBN upgrade?
The switch from FTTN (Fibre to the node) to FTTP (Fibre to the premises) is fairly significant as it replaces a lot of old copper wiring technology that limits internet speeds to these areas.
FTTP is considered one of the fastest internet connections in Australia and should allow more customers to access up to 1 Gbps speeds on the NBN.
$700 million is also being spent on creating business fibre zones across Australia which will give more business premises access to top tier speeds. Some FTTC and HFC connections are also getting the upgrade, bringing the whole initiative to a $3.5 billion cost.
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Which suburbs will be eligible for an upgrade next?
On Tuesday, NBN Co released a list of the suburbs that will be next to benefit from the FTTP upgrade.
These 300,000 additional premises will bring the upgrade plan past 1.4 million homes and businesses that have been announced so far. NBN Co is aiming to enable FTTP in 2 million additional homes by 2023.
To be eligible for this upgrade plan, NBN Co said its selection criteria was based on areas where the company anticipated “strong demand for higher speeds; where it can provide maximum benefit to the most customers; where it can deploy with speed and agility, and where its multi-billion-dollar investment is most likely to spread and multiply economic activity across the nation.”
The suburbs that will be qualifying next include:
- NSW: Albion Park Rail, Alstonville, Ambarvale, Avalon Beach, Banora Point, Beaumont Hills, Berkeley, Brighton-Le-Sands, Broulee, Bundeena, Callala Bay, Callala Beach, Campbelltown, Currans Hill, Dalmeny, Farmborough Heights, Figtree, Glen Alpine, Glenmore Park, Glenwood, Goonellabah, Goulburn, Harrington Park, Kellyville, Kellyville Ridge, Keiraville, Lake Heights, Lennox Heads, Mollymook Beach, Mount Warrigal, North Nowra, Palm Beach, Pottsville, Rouse Hill, Ruse, Stanhope Gardens, Sussex Inlet, Sutherland, The Ponds, Tweed Heads, Tweed Heads South, Unanderra, Warrawong, Windang, Yamba.
- VIC: Beaconsfield, Berwick, Craigieburn, Echuca, Kialla, Mornington, Narre Warren South, Lakes Entrance, Myrtleford, Newport, Pakenham, Port Fairy, Sunbury, Tarneit, Traralgon, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, Williamstown, Williamstown North, Woori Yallock.
- QLD: Battery Hill, Bellbowrie, Bli Bli, Brassall, Brinsmead, Coomera, Darling Heights, Edmonton, Condon, Harristown, Maroochydore, Moggill, Newtown, Oakey, Palm Cove, Redland Bay, Sippy Downs, Smithfield, Springfield Lakes, Toowoomba City, Upper Coomera, Yorkeys Knob.
- SA: Clovelly Park, Craigmore, Findon, Mitchell Park, Morphett Vale, Rosewater, Woodville South.
- WA: Armadale, Atwell, Bassendean, Bayswater, Beaconsfield, Cannington, Claremont, Forrestfield, Fremantle, Innaloo, Morley, Myaree, Piarra Waters, Port Kennedy, Rockingham, Safety Bay, Seville Grove, Shoalwater, Stirling, Waikiki, Wattle Grove, White Gum Valley, Willagee, Wilson.
The ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania are noticeably absent from this last however were included in NBN Co’s previous announcement of 900,000 areas in May.
So when can these suburbs actually expect to access this fancy new upgrade?
Kathryn Dyer, COO at NBN Co, said: “We will launch a small-scale pilot of the FTTN to FTTP upgrade program to enable the first eligible premises to access a higher speed NBN Home Fast, NBN Home Superfast or NBN Home Ultrafast service via their chosen internet retailer in November this year.”
Customers will need to opt for a higher speed FTTP plan with their ISP once available to take advantage of the new upgrade.