je.st
news
Australian NBN roll-out progress slower than expected
2013-03-21 11:52:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) NBN Co, the company managing the roll-out of Australia's next-generation broadband network, said the project will miss its target for premises covered by June. The company said it was seeing about a three-month delay in fibre construction. As a result, only around 190,000 to 220,000 premises will be covered by June, and the original target of 341,000 premises passed by fibre should be reached about three months later. The NBN said the problem was not enough construction workers on the ground. To make up for the delay, the NBN Co is assuming direct management of the Northern Territory roll-out to ensure delivery, allowing contractor Syntheo to focus on the WA and SA areas. In addition, NBN Co and its construction partners will train and employ additional specialist workers (fibre splicers) to help recover lost time in the roll-out, and NBN Co's fibre construction contractors will increase their investment in equipment and manpower as well as technology to accelerate on-the-ground design and planning. The company said other major deliverables for the fibre network are on track, with no problems in acquiring equipment, implementing IT systems, rolling out the transit network or launching services. NBN Co underlined that the issue was short term and the NBN would meet its original Corporate Plan in terms of cost and delivery by 2021.
Tags: expected
progress
australian
slower
Category:Telecommunications