NBN Co names first 140 FTTN sites

NBN Co has listed the first 140 suburbs to receive fibre-to-the-node technology as part of the new-look multi-technology mix NBN rollout.

Build preparation work is currently underway to bring FTTN to 200,000 premises as part of NBN Co's 1000 node trial in 140 suburbs, which the company has detailed today.

The specified areas fall into the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle regions of New South Wales and the Wide Bay Burnett, Moreton Bay and Greater Brisbane areas of Queensland.

The full list of suburbs can be found here. Physical construction has only started in the NSW suburb of Belmont. 

The announcement means 155,000 premises in NSW and 89,500 premises in Queensland will be able to access FTTN in around 12 months' time, based on the company's plan to launch a commercial FTTN product in the third quarter of next year - and pending the signing of a permanent agreement with Telstra.

NBN Co said it had also begun planning and constructing a further 37,000 unspecified premises around the country.

The majority of the regions fall under NBN Co's existing 1000-node FTTN trials in NSW and Queensland. NBN Co added a further 300 nodes in Woy Woy, NSW and Warner in Queensland in August, to cover 45,000 premises, and bringing the total of premises covered under the trial to 240,000.

It is preparing to turn the trials into "customer experience pilots" ahead of the commercial launch of the commercial FTTN product.

NBN Co is currently leasing access to Telstra's infrastructure in a deal that falls outside the pair's existing $11 billion definitive agreements, which have been under renegotiation for the last 12 months.