NBN Co reveals active service dates for 1000-node trial sites

NBN Co will start offering active services to premises within its 1000-node construction trial of fibre-to-the-node technology from September.

NBN node. Credit: MyNetFone.

Last June, the network builder announced it had partnered with Telstra to test out the planning, design and construction of FTTN in 1000 nodes across Queensland and NSW.

The pilot has been designed to inform the best way to tackle a large-scale rollout of FTTN, which has become the default access technology of choice under the Coalition's multi-technology mix NBN.

In the company's most recent monthly 'ready for service' report, NBN Co for the first time included active service dates for the trial sites.

It expects to start offering active services to Belmont and Gorokan in NSW from September this year.

Bundaberg in Queensland will follow in October, and Queensland's Gympie and Boolaroo and Morisset in NSW are scheduled to be ready for service in November.

Hamilton and Woy Woy in NSW will start becoming available for active services in December through to January, while Bribie Island, Caboolture and Warner in Queensland will need to wait until February next year to connect to the NBN.

FTTN - along with fibre-to-the-basement for multi-dwelling units - is set to cover between 44 and 50 percent of premises in the fixed-line footprint.

The 1000-node construction trial involves running fibre to a neighbourhood node/pillar and using the existing copper network to connect to the premises.

NBN Co had previously indicated that the construction trial would be extended into a "customer service pilot" once the build was complete. A commercial launch of NBN Co's wholesale FTTN product is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

At the time of the trial's launch NBN Co said it would also expand its pilot FTTN build to Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast.

NBN Co has been contacted for comment.

The company yesterday confirmed it had commenced its second end-user trial of FTTN in the Lake Macquarie region.