Australia's Telstra has signed a new A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) deal with nbn, the company building the national broadband network, to help extend the NBN to Telstra's HFC network.
Under the deal, Telstra will carry out the design and manage the construction - including conducting part of the work itself - of the remaining work required to extend the NBN to the pay-TV HFC network.
The agreement covers more than three million homes that will primarily be connected to nbn's upgraded HFC technology, as well as a mix of other technologies.
As part of the current government's multi-technology mix model for the NBN rollout, nbn plans to use HFC connections for just under 3 million connections to the national network, or around 34% of the premises to be connected to the network.
The company expects to have 10,000 HFC connections available for orders by the end of June.
“The NBN network is now available to two million homes and businesses, with close to one million already connected. This deal will extend the NBN network to millions more, bringing new opportunity in education, health and online services to more families,” nbn CEO Bill Morrow said.
“Telstra has enormous experience in HFC design and construction, and the rollout will be greatly assisted by having them as a key partner in the delivery of this part of the network."