Exetel signs wholesale NBN deal with Optus

Exetel has signed a two-year deal to purchase NBN carrier aggregation services through Optus Wholesale.

Under the deal, Exetel will be provided access to all NBN 121 POIs (points of interconnect) through Optus Wholesale, including backhaul.

The arrangement means Exetel can avoid the costs of servicing all 121 POIs on its own.

For each region an RSP such as Exetel wants to serve, it needs to purchase a physical port at the POI to connect its backhaul to the NBN network.

The RSP also needs to purchase bandwidth on the NBN at each POI to connect through to end users. In addition, because the POIs are scattered across the country, providers need to purchase or lease backhaul links to each one they want to connect to.

The costs involved with servicing all 121 POIs means smaller providers such as Exetel opt to resell access from a wholesale provider - in this case, Optus and its wholesale Residential Broadband over NBN (RBBoNBN).

The NBN is connected to Optus’ backhaul at the POI, while the services are handed over to Exetel via a Layer 2 AGVC link. No over-the-top services are included as part of the deal.

Exetel has 30 of its own POIs nationally, and said it plans to roll out more.

The deal comes after Exetel signed a three-year 4G wholesale mobile partnership with Optus in May. The company also uses Optus Wholesale’s unconditioned local loop, inbound call centre and corporate data services.