Where are the new NBN Enterprise Ethernet Business zones?

Sep. 28, 2020 By Tony Dunphy

New Business Fibre Zones for NBN Enterprise Ethernet

The recent announcement surrounding the redesignation of 130 NBN Zone 1 & 2 locations into Business Fibre Zones was welcome news. This should lead to discounted NBN Enterprise Ethernet pricing in those areas in addition to no or low fibre build cost if required. It means that many outer Suburban and regional Business centres can now access NBN Enterprise Ethernet pricing at the same rates as they cousins operating within the NBN CBD zone. Now regional business can access corporate NBN plans and get access to Enterprise Grade fibre.

NBN Business Fibre Zones for Enterprise Ethernet

For anyone in the industry, understanding how the business NBN Enterprise Ethernet Zoning works is a bit of a mystery. We have all seen SQs almost next to each other delivering vastly different results. The recent announcement brings an element of certainty to the process and also easier to understand for our business clients.

NBN Co has provided some high level boundary maps for the first 130 Business Fibre Zones. See below for links to the NBN Business Fibre map for each location. Another 110 locations will be added to the list within the next 6 weeks.

The $700 million project provides for discounted monthly access charges and no cost fibre build for NBN EE in most locations within the New NBN EE areas. In some cases the wholesale rate for a 1000/1000mbps Ethernet Fibre could drop by as much as 67%. NBNco has also advised they are reducing the 100/100Mbps access fee in most locations, to the same rate they previously applied to the 10/10Mbps wholesale charge. This means that 100/100mbps will effectively be the entry level NBN Enterprise Ethernet bandwidth.

The Business Fibre Zones across Australia, include 85 regional centres. The NBN states that all businesses within these zones will have access to Enterprise Ethernet, at significantly reduced wholesale prices. In total, these zones are expected to cover more than 700,000 business premises.

Last week the locations 130 Business Fibre Zones were released, including 61 in regional locations such as Mornington, Bunbury, Mount Gambier, Devonport, Shepparton, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton.

Nationally, 14 of the Business Fibre Zones will be located specifically to underpin existing health precincts – locations which include major hospitals and related research and education facilities – providing a boost for essential services and health innovation.