NBN Co will provide voice and data services to Macquarie Telecom’s business customers under a $100 million, six-year deal with the telco.
Under the contract, Macquarie will access a range of NBN’s wholesale products including high and symmetrical speeds, service level agreements, technology upgrades (where required), as well as access to NBN’s virtual network-to-interface (NNI) link.
The virtual NNI is the port that allows retailers to ‘plug in’ to NBN’ Co’s points of interconnect and lets phone and internet providers access the network directly from the company.
NBN Co’s chief customer officer, business, Paul Tyler said in a blog post on Thursday that enabling entry to the NBN access network via a virtual NNI link also allows service providers to manage their own network connection.
The agreement also introduces opportunities for organisations located outside capital cities and metropolitan centres thanks to the rollout of the NBN access network across regional and remote communities, said Luke Clifton, group executive at Macquarie Telecom.
“High-speed connectivity has been prohibitive for many businesses in the past, especially in our outer metro or regional areas,” he said. “Price gouging has been common. Access to cloud and internet-based applications has been near-impossible for some. The rollout of the NBN access network brings real competition to these markets for the very first time.”
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