The new NBN Business Fibre Zones will be available for eligible businesses in these new locations from 1 September 2021. NBN said, if the business customer signs up to a three-year plan from their internet retailer, NBN Co will not charge the retailer an up-front connection cost.

NBN says, it follows NBN Co’s announcement in September 2020 to create the first 240 NBN Business Fibre Zones, offering direct fibre connections and enabling access to business-grade broadband to a customer base of around 790,000 eligible business premises across Australia.

NBN advise that the 284 Business Fibre Zones will offer more than 850,000 business locations across Australia access to business NBN Enterprise Ethernet, the company’s fastest symmetrical wholesale product options with a 99.95 per cent network availability uptime target designed to help optimise network reliability and help reduce downtime for business.

NBN says, that Enterprise Ethernet also offers access to plans based on the highest wholesale upload speed tier options available on the NBN network and dedicated onshore service plan support for providers via the business NBN Operations Centre. The plans remain flexible for small, medium and large businesses with options for prioritised data, high capacity symmetrical wholesale download and upload speed tiers from 10 Mbps to close to 1 Gbps service enhancements available to add on to plans

NBN Co chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said, “NBN Co has a very clear and simple purpose: to lift the digital capability of Australia. We are therefore expanding the coverage of our NBN Business Fibre Zones across Australia to help support and grow Australia’s digital economy.

“Businesses are increasingly using business NBN Enterprise Ethernet to support cloud-based business operations, remote file storage, content hosting, unified communications, large file distribution, and to connect head office locations.

"However, for decades the location of a business - whether it’s in the city or outer metropolitan area, peri-urban fringe, regional city, town or rural area - has been the determining factor in the price they pay for business-grade fibre.

“For business NBN Enterprise Ethernet customers, we are helping to level the playing field and ensuring that more businesses throughout Australia can participate in the digital economy on an equal footing, with greater parity on recurring monthly wholesale charges in more locations.

New wholesale pricing discounts

NBN said that the NBN Business Fibre Initiative helps level the playing field for businesses of all sizes and in more locations by reducing the significant variation that has existed in the cost of business broadband services in regional and rural areas compared to CBD Zones.

NBN added, eligible businesses within any of NBN Business Fibre Zones that order an Enterprise Ethernet service will receive their chosen speed tier and service based on the same CBD-equivalent wholesale charge that is applied to a company based in a CBD Zone.

NBN Co announced that it will be introducing further discounts for Enterprise Ethernet. NBN says, the discounted wholesale pricing will be offered in relation to new and existing customers within all NBN Business Fibre Zones. The company will also offer the wholesale pricing discounts to eligible businesses outside of new and existing NBN Business Fibre Zones.

Further discounts within NBN Business Fibre Zones

NBN said that, "Businesses that were previously located in Zone 3 (regional areas such as Broken Hill), which have now been incorporated into a new NBN Business Fibre Zone, will be able to take advantage of wholesale pricing discounts of up to 68%.

"Businesses located in any of the existing 240 NBN Business Fibre Zones may also benefit from wholesale pricing discounts of up to 37%, where the Zone and Bandwidth discounts are combined.

"For businesses that are located outside an existing NBN Business Fibre Zone, NBN Co will offer wholesale discounts of up to 58%, where the Zone and Bandwidth discounts are combined."

Fibre build cost certainty

NBN continues, "From 9 August 2021, for eligible businesses located within any of the NBN Business Fibre Zones, NBN Co will offer a no up-front build cost to internet providers when they order an Enterprise Ethernet product. Additionally, if the internet provider signs up for a three-year Enterprise Ethernet service, they will have no up-front connection cost.

"For businesses that are located outside an existing NBN Business Fibre Zone, customers are quoted for the design and construction of their required fibre extension to their premises as part of the ordering process5. It is common practice within the industry that when unforeseen costs, such as additional civil works, trenching and site restoration are identified, those costs are passed on to resellers and then to end customers.

"To eliminate any uncertainty, NBN Co is introducing a new Fibre Build Quote Guarantee. For all locations in the NBN fixed line footprint, NBN Co will offer Retail Service Providers a guarantee on all Fibre Build Quotes5. It will not pass on any variations to resellers, providing them and end customers much greater certainty on their upfront costs.

"NBN Co will also introduce a Service Delivery Guarantee, under which it commits to complete the design and construction of new fibre infrastructure in most business locations within the NBN fixed line footprint within 50 business days. This is designed to be the first step of many improvements to help ensure our resellers and customers are able to get connected more quickly and easily.

NBN Business Fibre Zones across Australia 

New South Wales 

NBN advise, in New South Wales, ten new NBN Business Fibre Zones will be created in metropolitan and regional areas throughout the state, which will give businesses access to premium business-grade services when they order a business NBN Enterprise Ethernet service.

NBN said, the ten new NBN Business Fibre Zones in New South Wales are located on the tip of Sydney’s northern beaches peninsula from Avalon to Palm Beach, Camden, Casino, Cessnock, Hunters Hill, Lithgow, Nelson Bay, Singleton, Wauchope and a Lake Macquarie - West zone incorporating parts of Morisset, Toronto, West Wallsend and Edgeworth.

Whitcomb said, “The new NBN Business Fibre Zones will cover more than 17,500 eligible businesses.

“Of the ten new zones, three are in metropolitan areas covering around 6,000 business locations and seven are located in regional and remote New South Wales, covering around 11,500 eligible business premises.”

NBN say it has now established a total of 103 NBN Business Fibre Zones in New South Wales with the first 93 zones established as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

Victoria 

NBN said it will be establishing 13 new NBN Business Fibre Zones across the state, with eight of the zones in metropolitan locations and five new zones in regional and remote areas.

Whitcomb said, “The 13 new zones will enable approximately 19,500 additional businesses to become eligible to acquire access to premium business nbn Enterprise Ethernet services.

“Of the 13 new zones, eight are in metropolitan areas covering around 14,500 business locations and five are located in regional Victoria, covering around 5,000 eligible business premises.”

The 13 new NBN Business Fibre Zones in Victoria are located in Balwyn-Surrey Hills, Bentleigh, Cowes, Eltham, Glenroy, Hampton-Sandringham, Hastings-Tyabb, Melton, Ocean Grove, Rosebud, Tatura, Torquay, and Yarrawonga.

NBN say it has now established a total of 61 NBN Business Fibre Zones in Victoria with the first 48 zones established as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

Queensland

NBN said it will be establishing nine new NBN Business Fibre Zones across the state, with one additional zone in the rapidly growing northern Brisbane suburb of North Lakes and eight new zones in regional and remote areas.

Whitcomb said, “The nine new zones will enable approximately 12,500 additional businesses to become eligible to acquire access to premium business NBN Enterprise Ethernet services.

“Of the nine new zones, one is in metropolitan Brisbane covering around 3,000 business locations and eight are located in regional Queensland, covering around 9,500 eligible business premises.”

The nine new NBN Business Fibre Zones in Queensland are located in Ayr, Dalby, Emerald, Goondiwindi, Hervey Bay, Nambour, North Lakes, Warwick, and Yeppoon.

NBN say it has now established a total of 49 NBN Business Fibre Zones in Queensland with the first 40 zones established as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

Western Australia

NBN says, in Western Australian, four new NBN Business Fibre Zones will be created, with three zones in metropolitan locations and one zone in Collie in the South West region of Western Australia.

The four new NBN Business Fibre Zones in Western Australia are located in Cottesloe, Joondalup, Maddington and Collie.

“The four new zones will enable approximately 8,000 additional businesses to become eligible to acquire access to premium business nbn Enterprise Ethernet services,” said Whitcomb.

NBN says it has now established a total of 27 NBN Business Fibre Zones in Western Australia with the first 23 zones established as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

South Australia

NBN said, five new NBN Business Fibre Zones are set to be established in South Australia, with an emphasis on strengthening the digital connectivity capabilities for businesses located in regional and remote locations.

“The establishment of the new zones will include approximately 4,000 additional eligible businesses across South Australia with approximately 2,000 additional eligible business locations in metropolitan areas and around 2,000 in regional areas,” said Whitcomb.

The five new NBN Business Fibre Zones in South Australia are located in Goolwa, Modbury, Naracoorte, Port Pirie and Stirling.

NBN say it has now established a total of 29 NBN Business Fibre Zones in South Australia with the first 24 zones in metropolitan and regional areas established as part of the company’s $700 million investment to deliver premium-business grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

ACT

NBN said it will be creating two new NBN Business Fibre Zones in the Australian Capital Territory in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong.

Whitcomb said, “The two new Business Fibre Zone locations will include more than 3,300 additional business in the ACT.

“In Gungahlin more than 1,800 businesses will now be included in the Business Fibre Zone, and approximately 1,200 business premises in the Tuggeranong area will also be included in the zone.’’

NBN says it has now established a total of seven NBN Business Fibre Zones in the ACT with the first five zones in metropolitan and regional areas established as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

Tasmania

NBN said, in Tasmania, it is setting up one new NBN Business Fibre Zone, which will be located in George Town and Bell Bay.

“The new Business Fibre Zone will include approximately 450 eligible businesses in George Town and Bell Bay,” said Whitcomb.

NBN says it has now established a total of five NBN Business Fibre Zones in Tasmania with the first zones now well-established in Hobart, Burnie, Launceston and Davenport as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business-grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

Northern Territory

NBN said it has previously established a total of three NBN Business Fibre Zones in the Northern Territory in Casuarina, Darwin and Palmerston as part of the company’s investment to deliver premium business grade Enterprise Ethernet availability to lift the digital capabilities of eligible businesses in those areas.

“Business Fibre Zones benefit eligible businesses in the Casuarina, Darwin and Palmerston areas of the Northern Territory,” said Whitcomb.

A detailed list of all existing NBN Business Fibre Zones, and maps of each zone, nationally, is available here.

Comments

I haven't been a fan of NBN over-building business fibre in CBD locations, it seemed a waste of capital and its initial sales approach somewhat anti-competitive. They were effectively buying market-share with public funds in order to continue to support their forecasted 3% ROI.

However, building out in regional communities, not supported in the past, will have positive economic outcomes for those communities and the country. Business is going through a paradigm change, accelerated by COVID-19, with remote working and rethinking where businesses can effectively operate. Having access to affordable business grade services in these locations will enable more business decentralisation and drive better economic outcomes for regional Australia.