News
19 September, 2023
Work underway in Highland Street, Esk to upgrade NBN Fixed Wireless network
WORK has started in Highland Street, Esk on the upgrades to the NBN Fixed Wireless network, which will benefit households and businesses in Somerset region, providing access to faster speeds and extending the coverage of the NBN Fixed Wireless network.
The $750 million investment in the NBN Fixed Wireless and NBN Sky Muster satellite network – $480 million from the Australian Government and $270 million from NBN – is on track to be completed by around December 2024.
When complete, the investment will expand the reach of the existing NBN Fixed Wireless footprint by up to 50%, as well as enabling two new high speed fixed wireless plans – Fixed Wireless Home Fast and Fixed Wireless Superfast.
The additional capacity and reach available on the upgraded network will also enable approximately 120,000 existing Sky Muster satellite-only premises to access NBN Fixed Wireless for the first time.
Work has begun to enable the upgrades, including NBN introducing new technology and replacing some hardware on fixed wireless towers.
NBN will use 4G technology and software enhancements as well as introducing 5G mmWave technology to help deliver more coverage, minimise congestion and offer access to higher speed tiers on the NBN Fixed Wireless network. NBN will be among the first in the world to deploy 5G mmWave technology at this scale for a dedicated fixed wireless network.
The tower upgrades will mean some planned outages may impact homes and businesses and their ability to use their NBN service while the work is underway. NBN will take all reasonable efforts to minimise service interruptions; however, there are occasions where towers will need to be taken offline.
The upgrade work is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks.
Impacted homes and businesses should be notified of any outages via their retail service provider. Information will also be available via the NBN website: www.nbnco.com.au/support/network-status. The tower works will not impact NBN fixed line or NBN Sky Muster satellite services.
Head of NBN Local Queensland, Kylie Lindsay, said there is increasing demand for faster internet from homes and business across Australia and continued investment in the NBN network to stay ahead of demand.
“We are excited to have begun work upgrading the NBN Fixed Wireless network in Esk, which will be a game changer for households and businesses.
“This work to towers is critical to the delivery of our program but will mean some planned outages may affect homes and businesses and their ability to use their NBN service while the work is underway.
“After the tower works are completed, we expect that faster download speeds during the busy period will become available across the NBN Fixed Wireless network.
“We are asking the community to prepare for these outages and have back up connectivity if they need it.
“We encourage people to check the network status page (www.nbnco.com.au/support/network-status) on the NBN website and watch out for communication from their retail service provider about how the planned outages may impact them.”
In addition to tower upgrades, homes and businesses may also need to update their NBN devices at their premises to get the benefits of the upgrades. NBN will contact those impacted directly. Not all devices will need to be replaced.
NBN continues the full roll out of the program and in April 2023 announced the start of moving 120,000 eligible premises currently in the NBN satellite footprint to the expanded NBN Fixed Wireless footprint – with around 25,000 of these homes and businesses now able to access fixed wireless for the first time.
For more information and to register for updates, customers are encouraged to visit NBN’s Fixed Wireless and Satellite Upgrade Program: https://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/the-nbn- project/delivering-a-better-broadband-experience-for-the-bush
