More than 1000 homes and businesses in North Melbourne and Sydney’s south will be the first to benefit from new technology under the NBN rollout that will deliver faster broadband speeds.  NBN Co is providing a limited release of its fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology that will connect to a telecom pit near a driveway outside a home or business rather than a junction box down the street, with a larger release due in the second half of this year.  Fiber-optic cable is connected to the pit outside the home or business, with existing copper lines used to connect the Internet to the premise.  [That’s the same topology used by AT&T’s U-verse in the U.S.]

NBN Co‘s chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan labelled the Australian-made technology a “breakthrough:”

“It allows us to deliver a lot of the benefits of fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) without the inconvenience of digging front lawns of Australians,” he told reporters.  “It allows us to deploy the NBN faster and at a lower cost and complete the network by 2020,” he added.

Testing has seen download speeds of over 100 Mbps and more than 40 Mbps uploads.  That could reach a gigabit per second with the addition of new “copper acceleration technology”, which is planned in selected areas by the end of the year.

About one million premises are expected to be connected by 2020, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said, although that could change.  “This is really good news and a further development in the evolution of the NBN,” he told reporters alongside Treasurer Scott Morrison at the launch in Miranda, in Sydney’s south, on Sunday.

nbn™ Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) equipment

For more information, please visit: https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn-about-the-nbn/network-technology/fibre-to-the-curb-explained-fttc.html

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

NBN Co will decide what other locations will get the FTTC broadband access, based on what technology “makes sense” in any given area, Mr. Fifield said.  FTTC can deliver the same 100Mbps speeds as fiber-to-the-premise, but at a lower cost, in much less time and with far less disruption to people’s property, he added.  Mr Fifield guaranteed all premises would get at least 25 Mbps, with 90 per cent above 50 and 72 per cent at 100 Mbps.   “The Turnbull government is keeping broadband bills down and taxes lower by rollout the NBN sooner and more affordably,” he said.

NBN Co’s chief customer officer for residential, Brad Whitcomb, said new “copper acceleration technology” known as G.fast could deliver even faster speeds in selected areas by the end of the year.

Mr Whitcomb said NBN has been working closely with service providers to test the new FTTC over the past few months.

“As with the introduction of any new technology, we will continue to gain insights as we navigate the complexity of the build as well as potential issues which can arise when people connect to the network,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Fifield is confident the network will meet the speed needs of Australians once completed in 2020, but noted NBN Co would pursue upgrade options if needed.  “I think the experience people are having today is, overwhelmingly, a good one,” he said.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2018/04/08/nbn-fttc-sydney-melbourne/