VHA wants in on NBN trials

Renai LeMay
Thursday, 24 February 2011 10:42

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

'Our engagement with NBN Co is continuing '” we're working towards being part of their customer trial in the second half of 2011,' VHA chief executive Nigel Dews told press and analysts this afternoon as part of a financial results briefing teleconference.

Dews noted Vodafone intended to conduct trials in the first release sites which NBN Co is currently constructing in five locations round Australia. His company would have two priorities in the trial, he said '” with the first and most important one being a test of the ability to run NBN fibre to VHA mobile base stations to improve their capacity and speeds '” as well as reducing backhaul traffic costs.
However, the second priority, Dews said, would be to run actual fixed-line broadband customer trials.

The Federal Opposition has this week emphasised its view that the onset of next-generation 3G and 4G mobile broadband networks being built by VHA, Telstra and Optus posed a competitive threat to the predominantly fixed-line fibre NBN. However, Dews said his company had always viewed the two different types of services as 'complementary'.

'Usage just shows you that customers are hungry for both fixed and mobile,' he said. 'Views that suggest that the NBN is in competitive with mobile broadbvand are just naive. At the end of the day, we really welcome the rollout.'

Those problems
Dews also addressed the wave of criticism levelled at his company in the past few months after it suffered a high-profile series of network problems that left many without service. Dews pointed to his company's announcement earlier this week of large investments in customer service and network infrastructure as evidence that VHA was moving on the issue, and said that after 'a difficult few months', VHA's efforts were 'beginning to take effect'.