Australia - Broadband - FttH Greenfield Market

Synopsis

The deployment of Fibre-to-the-Premises in greenfield estates is a fast-growing industry, supported by an updated regulatory regime and pricing models. Recent legislation provides the framework for all new major housing sites to be supplied with FttP infrastructure, or to be made ready (pit and pipe) for such deployment. The nbn (NBN Co) has in place measures aimed at improving competition, minimising costs, and providing a level playing field for participants in this sector. Controversially, developers and home owners will be charged for the infrastructure costs in new housing developments.

nbn is the operator of last resort for housing developments where a commercial solution is not economically viable, while Telstra fills that role under certain conditions.

Following a period in which premises passed by fibre had no backhaul infrastructure in which to be connected, there has been considerable progress in recent months. By the beginning of June 2016 there were 1.481 million brownfield sites serviceable, of which 723,440 were activated. There were also 268,290 greenfield sites passed, of which 162,670 were activated. As a measure of the speed of deployment reached (compared to the doldrums of 2011), some 31,690 additional lots or premises were passed or covered by the NBN during the last week of May 2016, of which about 25,980 were in brownfield areas and 2,750 in greenfield sites.

This report analyses the situation with respect to greenfield fibre deployments. It provides an overview of the operators, as well as statistics on the FttP market.