NBN Co gets more time to connect sensitive govt sites

NBN Co will be given more time to connect high-security government sites to its network in recognition of the challenges of servicing sensitive sites.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has agreed to exercise “regulatory forbearance” by not enforcing NBN migration rules on certain “Commonwealth high-security sites”.

This will afford NBN Co more time to deploy serviceable connections to these premises, and temporarily delay the start of the 18-month disconnection deadline that would otherwise need to be enacted by Telstra.

“NBN Co has experienced difficulty in servicing particular Commonwealth government high-security sites, because of the nature of these sites,” the ACCC noted.

“The regulatory forbearance aims to ensure that, where there are difficulties in making Commonwealth government high-security sites serviceable, those sites can remain connected to their existing services for a limited additional period.”

Telstra indicated it would regularly provide a list of affected sites to the ACCC.

The arrangement is also set to be reviewed by Telstra and NBN Co after 12 months.