Australian NBN launches first HFC services

Australia’s nbn has announced the launch of the National Broadband Network’s first HFC services under the multi-technology mix model.

The company in charge of overseeing the rollout and wholesale operation of the national network revealed that around 18,800 premises in Redcliffe in Queensland are now ready for service.

Service providers in the area will be given access to peak wholesale speeds of up to 100Mbps uplink and 40Mbps downlink.

The current NBN rollout plan calls for 875,000 HFC premises to be ready for service nationwide by June 2017, with 200,000 of these end-user premises activated on the network.

The NBN was originally intended to use FTTP for more than 90% of Australia’s population, but on taking power three years ago the current government abandoned this model  in favor of a rollout using a mix of using a mix of FTTH, HFC and FTTN.

At the time it was claimed this would allow the rollout to be completed faster and more cheaply than using FTTH, but the projected cost and timeframe of the multi-technology rollout has ballooned to be potentially nearly as expensive as the initial rollout plan.

The in-opposition Labor party has pledged to use FTTP for an additional 2 million premises if it wins power. An election was held over the weekend and while it’s a close race and the votes are still being counted, experts expect the current government to win by a slim margin and form a minority government.