NBN Co, the mixed-access broadband initiative backed by the Australian government, said it is expanding its fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC) footprint as it prepares to relaunch wholesale services on parts of the national network delivered via hybrid fiber/coax (HFC).  

On the FTTC front, NBN will roll that technology out to an additional 440,000 homes and businesses, taking the total planned FTTC footprint close to 1.5 million premises by 2020. Those 440,000 additions were originally slated for fiber-to-the-node access networks within the existing planned HFC footprint.  

Those newly planned FTTC premises are also inside or adjacent to existing Telstra HFC network coverage but are not able to connect to the Telstra HFC network, NBN noted.  

NBN also said it will begin a staged resale of wholesale HFC services to retailers starting April 27, with an initial release of about 1,000 premises in its HFC access network footprint in Melbourne and Sydney, and another 38,000 set for release by the end of June in parts of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.  

From July onward, NBN said it expects to “significantly ramp up” its release of HFC premises, expecting to hit about 100,000 per month.  

“We are pleased with the improvements seen from the additional work undertaken while sales have been paused on the HFC network,” Bill Morrow, NBN’s CEO, said in a statement. Morrow plans to step down from NBN by the end of 2018.  

“The flexibility of the multi-technology mix allows us to choose the right technology for each area and deliver the project on time and on budget,” added Morrow, who plans to step down from NBN by the end of 2018. “We remain confident of reaching our goal of completing the build and connecting eight million Australian premises by 2020.” 

RELATED: NBN’s CEO Sets His Exit  

The current goal is to connect 8 million homes and businesses by 2020, with NBN expecting to end 2018 with 80% of the population able to connect to its national broadband network. NBN is trying to reach that goal using a variety of access technologies, including FTTP, fiber-to-the-node/basement/curb, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite broadband. 

 NBN is also teaming with Ericsson on a 5G trial in Melbourne as it looks at possible upgrade options for fixed wireless broadband services, according to ZDNet, which noted that NBN will use 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHZ band for the pilot.  

Nbn Co, the broadband initiative backed by the Australian government, said CEO Bill Morrow has informed the board and the government of his intention to step down by the end of 2018.  

Morrow didn’t get into specifics on the reason for his planned exit, but he’ll have led Nbn for four years and nine months if he stays through the end of the year.

“I believe that as the company prepares to confront the new challenges ahead, this is the right time to hand over the reins for the next phase of this incredible project and for me to plan for the next step in my career,” Morrow said in a statement.

“The country has been fortunate to have Bill lead this extraordinary project. While we will be sorry to see him leave, Bill has built a resilient, performance-driven organisation which will build on his legacy, added Nbn chairman Dr. Ziggy Switkowski.

Nbn, which has started a global search for Morrow’s successor, claimed that its rollout is “proceeding at pace, and expects the project to be completed in 2020 – “on time, on budget.”

The current goal is to connect 8 million homes and businesses by 2020. Nbn said it expects to end the year with 80% of the population able to connect to its national broadband network, which is using a variety of access technologies, including FTTP, fiber-to-the-node/basement/curb, hybrid fiber/coax (HFC), fixed wireless and satellite broadband.

RELATED: Australia’s Nbn Adds G.fast to Access Network Mix

Earlier this year, Nbn reportedly pushed back its HFC timetable, suspending new HFC broadband connections in December, with some premises moving from HFC to fiber. In February, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Nbn cable network had just 410,000 active premises, with Nbn clarifying that it would serve “up to” 3 million premises with HFC.

RELATED: Arris Scores Down Under

Nbn currently expects to start reselling HFC services in late April, with volumes ramping up from July onwards. 

Nbn Co., the broadband venture backed by the Australian government, said it will add G.fast to its access network toolkit as it looks to deliver faster speeds on fiber-to-the-building and fiber-to-the-curb networks.

G.fast is a new standard that aims to deliver gigabit-class speeds to DSL and other copper-based networks. By way of recent example, Sckipio, a G.fast chipmaker, is demoing 4 Gbps speeds (3.1 Gbps down and 900 Mbps upstream) at this week’s Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Germany.

RELATED: Australia’s nbn Marks Broadband Deployment Progress

Nbn, which announced its G.fast plans at the Berlin event, said it will start to adopt G.fast in 2018, expanding on its use of other access technologies that include fiber-to-the-premises, HFC and satellite-based broadband service delivery. It has tapped three suppliers – Nokia, Adtran and Netcomm Wireless, for the G.fast portion of its initiative.

RELATED: NBN Hits 100 Mbps-Plus with Less Costly Fiber-to-the-Curb Tech

Nbn expects G.fast to help it take speeds beyond 100Mbps delivered today on VDSL technology, and hit up to 1 Gbps using g higher frequencies of either 106 MHz or 212 MHz. G.fast is being used in limited ways by telcos such as AT&T, BT, Swisscom and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom.

RELATED: AT&T Expands Commitment to G.fast 

Nbn said it tested G.fast technology in October 2015 and achieved speeds of 600Mbps on a 20 year-old stretch of 100-meter copper cabling, and will conduct further testing before launch.

Australian government-backed National Broadband Network (nbn) is now a card-carrying member of CableLabs, the Colorado-based R&D unit of the cable industry that has been broadening its global influence.

nbn announced this week that it is the first cable network operator in the Oceania region to join CableLabs, making it the 56th member of the organization, which also counts members such as Comcast, Liberty Global, Jupiter Telecom (Japan), Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications (Canada) and  Vodafone (Germany).

nbn is pushing ahead with a plan to complete a network build/upgrade by 2020 that will connect 8 million premises, but recently reduced the mix that will lean on a hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) architecture. nbn also hasannounced plans to launch DOCSIS 3.1 servicesand target gigabit speeds in the second half of 2017 using the CableLabs-specified multi-gigabit platform for HFC. nbn announced earlier this month that about 2 million homes and businesses have been connected and that it expects to reach the halfway point of its build by around mid-2017.

RELATED: nbn Lowers HFC Goals

The announcement also noted that nbn will become part of a “collaborative process” at CableLabs that is involves Full Duplex DOCSIS, an annex to D3.1 that will support symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds.

“As the research and development lab for the global cable industry, we are looking forward to supporting nbn’s deployment of DOCSIS 3.1 in its integrated optical fibre and coaxial cable network,” CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney said in a statement.

The addition of nbn also squares with CableLabs’s global-facing efforts.

CableLabs and Cable Europe Labs merged in 2013, and CableLabs recently cancelled the 2018 annual Winter Conference and, in its place, will host an “Inform[ED]” conference in Lisbon, Portugal. A source familiar with CableLabs’s plans told Multichannel News that the organization is interested in holding multiple conferences around the world to drive its international strategy.

RELATED: Cable’s R&D Hub Adds New Faces in Ongoing Quest for Global Reach (subscription required)

CableLabs confirmed that Jeff Chen, an engineering exec late of Bright House Networks, joined CableLabs in February in the newly created role of senior vice president, global technology. CableLabs said Chen will focus on developing and maintaining relationships with CableLabs members in Asia, Europe and Latin America, by way of promoting CableLabs R&D, strategy and innovation efforts and getting a fix on their priorities.

Australian government-backed National Broadband Network (nbn) said it remains “on track” to complete its stated plan to complete its network build by 2020 and connect 8 million premises, but it will be reducing the amount of hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) required to reach that goal.

In a revised corporate plan released this week, nbn outlined a shift in mix of technology types it will use to connect 8 million premises by 2020. 

It originally planned to reach that in part with HFC to 4 million premises that are considered “ready for service” (RFS), but knocked that forecast down to 2.5 million to 3.2 million premises. Anticipated use of fiber-to-the-node/-to-the-basement/and distribution point, meanwhile, rose from 5.1 million premises that are RFS to 6.5 million.

Nbn’s planned use of FTTP (2 million to 2.5 million RFS) and fixed wireless and satellite technologies (900,000 to 1.1 million RFS) remain relatively steady.

According to IT News, nbn CEO Bill Morrow said the change in that deployment mix came after it was able to glean more data from the state of HFC networks it acquired from Telstra and Optus.

"[Last year] we didn't have contracts in place with equipment suppliers and delivery partners… and we lacked a lot of the data associated with exchange information from Telstra and Optus,” he said, according to the publication. We've been able to close all of that out through the year…The data that is available today changed the type of technology we should choose."

In the newly updated plan, nbn now anticipates annual revenue for fiscal year 2020 to be about $5 billion, with ARPU of $52.  As for the current state,  nbn has 2.9 million premises ready for service, and 1.1 million activated end users. Revenues were $421 million.

Once everything is in place, nbn expects to have 1-Gig available to 40% of Australians, 100 Mbps to 70%, and 100% getting 25 Mbps or more.

nbn noted that the projected top end of the peak funding range is now $46 million to $54 million, down from $46 million to $56 million, as it was able to minimize many of the uncertainties and cost assumptions in the business.

The government-backed group also noted that it’s fully funded for fiscal year 2017, but that it’s also exploring sources of external debt. Per IT News, nbn will still need to raise another $10 billion to meet its anticipated FY2018 requirement of $39.5 billion.

"We are confident we'll be able to obtain the necessary funds," Morrow said, noting that the process is already underway, according to the report.

nbn recently launched commercial broadband service on Telstra's  former HFC network in Ocean Reef, Western Australia, offering up to 100 Mbps down and 40 Mbps for its “retail service providers.”

nbn’s first commercial HFC services occurred in June in Redcliffe, Queensland, via the former Optus network.

Nbn, which uses an open access wholesale model and has tapped Arris as a partner for the HFC portion of its plan, said then that Optus, TPG and Exetel are offering HFC services at launch, with Telstra likely to be joining that group of sellers soon.

Nbn also has plans to launch DOCSIS 3.1 services and target gigabit speeds in the second half of 2017.

The Australian government-backed National Broadband Network (nbn) said it has launched commercial broadband services on Telstra’s former hybrid fiber/coax network in Ocean Reef, Western Austria.

The launch, which offers services of up to 100 Mbps down by 40 Mbps upstream from what it calls “Retail Service Providers” follows nbn’s first commercial HFC services launch in Redcliffe, Queensland, on June 30 on the former Optus network.

nbn said Optus, TPG and Exetel are offering HFC services at launch, with Telstra likely to be joining that group of sellers soon. 

In addition to 100/40, other speed tiers offered on the nbn HFC network are 50/20, 25/5 and 12/1, an nbn official noted, adding that “most” of the RSPs implement data caps that vary by provider, with many set at either 250 gigabytes, 500 GB or 1 terabyte.

“It is worth remembering that we will actually be one of the first operators in the world to deliver open access wholesale services over an HFC network so we have broken a lot of new ground in these last couple of years and now that hard work will pay off for our customers and end-users,” John Simon, chief customer officer at nbn, said in a statement.

Nbn’s near-term plan is to have about 200,000 HFC “end-user premises” activated by June 2017 as it works on a rollout that will eventually cover a footprint of more than 3 million premises.

Nbn, which isn’t without its critics, expects to launch DOCSIS 3.1 services and target gigabit speeds in the second half of 2017.

The group’s broader plan is to deliver broadband to 12 million premises in Australia via FTTP, FTTN, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite by 2020.

Nbn Co., a government-owned unit that is using various technologies to deliver next-gen broadband services to millions of locations in Australia, plans to launch DOCSIS 3.1-based services in the second half of 2017.

The timing of that plan was revealed in a report from Ovum – HFC: Delivering Gigabit Broadand – that was commissioned by nbn that provides an overview of the evolution of hybrid fiber/coax technologies.

DOCSIS 3.1 sets the stage for multi-gigabit broadband, and is designed to support capacities of 10 Gbps down by at least 1 Gbps upstream. A “full-duplex” initiative underway at CableLabs will enable symmetrical speeds via D3.1. Nokia demonstrated a prototype of that approach, called XG-CABLE, in May at the INTX show in Boston.

“At nbn we are planning to launch our DOCSIS 3.1 services in the second half of next year and we have a keen eye on other new emerging technologies such as Full Duplex DOCSIS because of the extraordinary potential that it offers,”  Dennis Steiger, CTO of nbn, said in a statement.

Following earlier trials involving Arris-made DOCSIS modems and network gear, Nbn  Australia launched commercial HFC service in late June, and currently offers up to 100 Mbps down by 40 Mbps up. The plan calls for nbn’s HFC platform to deliver broadband to more than 3 million premises, with 900,000 premises slated to be connected by June 2017.

More broadly, nbn’s plan is to deliver broadband to 12 million premises in Australia via FTTP, FTTN, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite by 2020.

Per Ovum’s report, HFC/cable will hold a 19% of the global broadband market between 2015 and 2020, with global HFC subs rising from 152 million in 2015, to 187 million in 2020. HFC will remain the dominant platform for U.S. broadband, with subs jumping from 59 million to 66 million in that same timeframe, the forecast said. 

Nbn Co, a government-owned entity that’s tasked with bringing next-gen broadband to millions of homes and businesses in Australia, said it has completed an HFC trial with a set of retail service partners (RSPs) using DOCSIS 3.0 technology that produced Layer 3 peak speeds of about 100 Mbps downstream and 40 Mbps in the upstream direction.

That trial, conducted on the Optus HFC network in Redcliffe, Queensland, involved about 20 end users, and tested elements such as improvements to network capacity, speed performance monitoring and the “on-boarding” of RSPs.

Those trials help to set the table for an anticipated commercial launch in Redcliffe in June 2016.

Three RSPs (retail service providers) – Telstra, iiNet and Exetel participated in the HFC pilot.

The HFC pilot, which used Arris-made DOCSIS 3.0 modems and the vendor’s E6000 CMTS/CCAP, averaged speeds of 84 Mbps/33 Mbps from December 1, 2015, through January 20, 2016. Those results were verified by Ovum (PDF), an independent U.K.-based analyst and consulting firm.

Nbn has already committed to using DOCSIS 3.1, a new platform for HFC networks that can deliver multi-gigabit speeds, but put a finer point on it this week, announcing that it intends to launch D3.1-based services in the second half of 2017. Nbn has also praised an emerging “full duplex” technology being developed at CableLabs that will enable MSOs to deliver symmetrical data services on DOCSIS 3.1-powered HFC networks.

“We launched our HFC Pilot on the former Optus HFC network back in November – with our pilot being one of the few times that a HFC network had been used to offer wholesale open access broadband services either in Australia or in the global broadband market,” Tony Brown, nbn’s public affairs manager, explained in this blog post.

“Whilst we are delighted with the speeds we have achieved on the pilot, we should note that this is really only just the beginning of what we are able to achieve on our nbn HFC network,” Brown added. “On our HFC pilot, we were using the current generation DOCSIS 3.0 technology, but from mid-2017 we plan to deploy next-generation DOCSIS 3.1 technology which is capable of wholesale downstream speeds of 10Gbps and wholesale upload speeds of 1Gbps.”

Last year, nbn selected Arris to play a primary role with the HFC portion of its network upgrades, which will rely on the supplier’s E600, CORWave transmitters and OM4100 optical receivers. Though Arris modems were used for the trials, it’s expected that cable modems from multiple suppliers will be distributed by RSPs that offer services on the network.

Nbn, established in 2009 to design, build and operate Australia’s new broadband network, is using a multi-technology approach. In addition to HFC, it will also use a mix of fiber-to-the-premises, fiber-to-the-node/basement (42%), and satellite and fixed wireless technologies to deliver broadband services.

According to nbn’s results for the second half of 2015, it ended the year with nearly 1.7 million premises that can order an nbn service, having added 450,000 homes and businesses to the footprint during that period. Nbn also posted total revenue of $164 million, up 152%, during the second half of 2015, with an average revenue per user of $43 per month. 

NBN Co, a government-owned entity tasked with bringing next-gen broadband to millions of homes and businesses in Australia, announced Thursday that it will deliver gigabit speeds using DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging HFC platform that will support capacities of up to 10 Gbps down and at least 1 Gbps in the upstream, starting in 2017.

NBN Co announced the commitment at the Cable Congress event in Brussels, joining Comcast and Liberty Global among the early champions of DOCSIS 3.1. Cox Communications is also expected to lean on D3.1 as part of an ambitious project that will start market-wide deployment of gigabit speeds by the end of 2016.

The hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) portion of NBN Co’s plan will span about 3.4 million homes and businesses in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and the Gold Coast. NBN Co’s plan is to create an open access network for “retail service partners” that will deliver services over the upgraded HFC plant following a proposal struck late last year under which NBN Co would take ownership of those cables from Optus and Telstra and incorporate them into NBN Co's National Broadband Network.

Last month, NBN Co selected Arris to play a primary role with the HFC portion of the network upgrades, which will rely on the supplier’s E6000 Converged Edge Router and CORWave transmitters and OM4100 optical receivers. At the time, they said the roadmap included a “possible migration to DOCSIS 3.1.”

Dennis Steiger, NBN Co’s chief technology officer, confirmed in an interview that the cable modems will be supplied by the retail service providers that use the HFC network. 

He is hopeful that an initial wave of DOCSIS 3.1 modems will start to appear in 2015. Those devices will be hybrids in that they can support DOCSIS 3.0 traffic as well as more efficient DOCSIS 3.1-based traffic, which will rely on blocks of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers. That technical mix will help operators with the migration, enabling them to seed the market with 3.0/3.1 hybrid devices as they continue to operate DOCSIS 3.0-based services and start to light up OFDM spectrum for DOCSIS 3.1.

Steiger said timing is critical for NBN Co, as the desire is to launch in mid-to-early 2016, so it will have to decide later if it will allow 3.0-only modems on the network. He said interoperability tests at CableLabs involving 3.1-based CMTS equipment and cable modems “are looking quite promising.”

“NBN will utilise a network that is already deployed across millions of homes and businesses in Australia,” Steiger said, in a statement. “By re-architecting the ratio of homes to a node and the use of the latest technology underpinning DOCSIS 3.1, Australia’s HFC network will become one of the most state-of-the-art technologies used to deploy broadband services.”

According to NBN, its strategic goals include connecting 8 million premises to “fast broadband” and achieve annual revenues of $4 billion by 2020, and to use less than the capped $29.5 billion government equity funding to achieve them.

Under NBN Co’s multi-technology approach, 28% of all premises will be over HFC, compared to fiber-to-the-premises (24%), fiber-to-the-node/basement (42%), and satellite and fixed wireless (6%). The design of that mix aims to provide download speeds of at least 25 Mbps to all premises, and at least 50 Mbps to 90% of fixed-line premises as soon as possible. 

While there’s been some controversy surrounding what’s the right strategy for NBN Co due to a bit of an historical bias toward FTTP, hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) will be a “cornerstone” technology as Australia’s government-sponsored agency for next-gen broadband pushes ahead, Bruce McClelland, president of Network & Cloud and Global Services, said the day after vendor announced its chief role in the project.

Fiber-to-the-premises, DSL, satellite and fixed wireless will also play a part in NBN Co’s plan, which will ultimately create an open access network for  a number of “retail service providers” that will ultimately ride on top of that common mixed-technology network. It’s expected that the upgraded HFC network will cover about 3.4 million premises, nearly half of the 8 million envisioned by the NBN project.

While Telstra’s HFC networks are in decent shape, Optus’s was relatively under-invested, McClelland said, noting that the broadband technology underpinning those networks spans everything from DOCSIS 1.0 to DOCSIS 3.0.

While the plan is to move to a Converged Cable Access Platform, the HFC-facing tech roadmap also includes a possible future migration to DOCSIS 3.1.

As for timing, McClelland said NBN would like to reach commercial trials with the new technology platform toward the end of 2015, with widescale commercial deployments underway by the first part of 2016.

Arris’s deal with NBN doesn’t include modems and other consumer premises equipment, as NBN will specify the minimum requirements but leave distribution of that equipment to its retail service partners. Arris, though, is “highly motivated to participate in that piece of the solution as well,” McClelland said.

Arris and NBN didn’t reveal financial terms, though one report placed the value at about $400 million. In a research note issued Monday (February 23), Simon Leopold, analyst with Raymond James, hesitated to put precise value on the deal, but said it could be “worth double digit millions.”

Although Arris sees international markets as a growth driver, “recent dollar strength might present a headwind for this opportunity,” Leopold added.

Arris’s international business will be getting a big lift in the years ahead after announcing Sunday night that it has won a deal to build a next-gen hybrid/fiber coax (HFC) for NBN Co., a government-owned entity, that will bring faster broadband speeds to millions of homes and businesses in Australia.

Arris CEO and chairman Bob Stanzione hinted at the news last week, announcing on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on February 18 that the company would soon announce a “substantial deal” to provide cable infrastructure for what was then still an unnamed service provider in the Asia Pacific. In the fourth quarter of 2014, international sales reached $364 million, representing 29% of total sales.  

Arris did not announce the financial terms of the NBN deal, but The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the vendor beat out Cisco Systems for a deal that’s worth about $400 million to Arris, which will provide gear and services to amp up HFC networks operated by Telstra and Singtel Optus. The paper said the HFC networks have the potential to reach 3.4 million premises.  

Billed as the primary vendor and strategic partner in NBN’s HFC-facing endeavor, Arris will supply its flagship product, the E6000 Converged Edge Router, a high-density chassis that started out as a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem termination system (CMTS) but is evolving to become a fully-fledged Converged Cable Access Platform that will also integrate edge QAM functions.

Arris will also supply other access products, including its CORWave forward path (1.2GHz) transmitters and OM4100 optical receivers and service assurance products, which provide visibility into the state of the network down to the device level. Additionally, Arris’s Global Services unit has been tapped for the full deployment and network integration for NBN’s national broadband service.

The roadmap also includes a “possible future migration to DOCSIS 3.1,” an emerging multi-gigabit architecture.

Arris installations will start in late 2015, with HFC existing predominantly in metro areas such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth.

Arris’s deal with NBN, a unit that is led former Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow (pictured above), comes after the Australian government agreed last year that the rollout should transition from a primarily fiber-to-the-premises model to an “optimized multi-technology mix” approach. The design of that mix is guided by the objective of providing download speeds of at least 25 Mbps to all premises, and at least 50 Mbps to 90% of fixed-line premises as soon as possible.  

NBN Co outlined its multi-tech rollout plans last November, announcing that most households and businesses already served by the Optus or Telstra HFC cable networks will receive fast broadband via network upgrades, and areas where NBN FTTP networks have been deployed or are in the “advanced stages of being built” will remain part of the FTTP rollout.  Additionally, NBN said it would continue to use fixed wireless or satellite broadband technologies in the rollouts, and use fiber-to-the-node and fiber-to-the-basement architectures in other communities and multiple-dwelling environments.

According to NBN, its strategic goals include connecting 8 million premises to “fast broadband” and achieve annual revenues of $4 billion by 2020, and to use less than the capped $29.5 billion government equity funding to achieve them.

As Morrow explains in this video, NBN believes there are 10 million homes and businesses that need to be connected, noting that, under NBN Co’s phased approach, hundreds of thousands of homes have already been connected. NBN is urging consumers and businesses to check online to see if services are available in their area.

For the first quarter results for fiscal 2015 (ended Sept. 30, 2014), NBN Co reported revenues of $29 million on earnings before interest and tax of -$377 million. It ended the period with 266,984 cumulative end users, with 202,718 of them served off of fiber, with the balance coming way of satellite and wireless. It ended the quarter with 639,927 premises passed, up from 310,472 in the year-earlier quarter.

“An HFC network represents the fastest and most cost-effective way to deliver it to consumers and businesses in the existing HFC network areas,” NBN Co. CTO Dennis Steiger said in a statement. “Our goal is to achieve high-speed broadband as quickly possible, with an eye on future technologies that will secure our place as a global technology leader.”

The ARRIS portfolio of Products and Services are at the heart of many Broadband networks around the world, and we look forward to expanding our presence in the Asia Pacific region.,” added Bruce McClelland, president of Network & Cloud and Global Services at Arris.