Australia’s NBN adds 450,000 premises to its network

Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) is gaining increasing strength, according to CEO Bill Morrow, with almost 1.7 million premises now able to order a service.

For the six months to 31 December, NBN Co added 450,000 premises to its network footprint and according to Morrow, the bigger footprint had been reflected in the first half numbers.

NBN Co posted revenue of $164 million, an increase of 152 per cent as against the corresponding period to 31 December.

NBN's average revenue per user, a key matrix in the telecommunications industry was up 10 per cent to $43 a month in the six month period from $39 a year earlier.

The network rollout momentum came largely from the fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) and the fixed wireless segments of the network. The number of premises with an active service was up from 322,391 to 736,053 and NBN Co had managed to break the 10,000 premises a week threshold in December 2015.

According to the company, its Net Promoter Score (NPS) rose to +31, up from +27, as last reported, with advocacy above 70 per cent across FTTP, Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) and Fixed Wireless.

NBN is expected to tap debt markets for $19.5 billion in future funding after booking improved revenue and customer account activation numbers in its half-yearly accounts.

According to NBN's chief financial officer Stephen Rue, existing government funding of $29.5 billion would be used up by June 2017, when it would look to banks and the corporate bond markets for financing. He added, the results, announced on today, add to the interests of investors.

The numbers disclosed are still a fraction of the ultimate size of the NBN undertaking. The company had set an annual revenue goal of $4 billion by 2020, but the biggest delivery method – fibre to the node – only went on sale to certain areas last September.