NBN Co Ltd is expanding its network by establishing 44 new Business Fibre Zones, bringing cheaper and faster broadband to businesses across Australia.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Paul Fletcher said the new Zones will help thousands of businesses participate in the county’s digital economy on an equal footing.
“As we manage and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in local business communications infrastructure will help businesses to recover quickly, while taking advantage of domestic and international markets,” Minister Fletcher said.
The expansion of NBN’s broadband network is expected to support an additional 60,000 eligible businesses across the country. This brings the total number of businesses within a Business Fibre Zone to 850,000, of which nearly 300,000 are in regional Australia.
The added Zones will also bring the country’s total number of Business Fibre Zones to 284.
The extension to NBN Co’s Business Fibre Zone initiative adds to the $700 million package that was announced last year. Under that package, the Australian Government intended to transform the accessibility and affordability of business-grade fibre and allow small to medium businesses to embrace opportunities for growth.
The NBN™ Enterprise Ethernet, NBN Co’s fastest symmetrical wholesale product, also offers businesses plans of up to 1 Gbps for the same price as CBD areas. Research by Frontier Economics has shown NBN Co’s business fibre investments will contribute up to $7.2 billion annually to the economy by 2024.
Frontier Economics’s research also forecasts that the fibre investments will benefit businesses, especially those in regional areas, of up to 12 per cent, increasing productivity.
NBN Co has also announced it will further discount wholesale pricing for those within Business Fibre Zones by up to 37 per cent a year for new and existing customers, enhancing expected benefits from NBN Co’s Business Fibre Initiative.
Businesses located outside existing Business Fibre Zones will also benefit from the establishment of a new, simplified approach to pricing which will deliver wholesale pricing discounts of up to 58 per cent.
SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA RELEASE