First milestone achieved for the Australian NBN project

One Million km of ribbon fibre cable supplied from Prysmian Group for the project rollout.

Sydney, Australia - 25/02/2013 - 01:00 AM

One Million km of ribbon fibre cable supplied from Prysmian Group for the project rollout

Prysmian Group has now supplied over 1 million kilometres of ribbon fibre for the National Broadband Network. This historic landmark was achieved in late January 2013.

Phil Edwards, Prysmian's global Senior Vice-President for Business Telecom was in Sydney to recognise the milestone. "I was in Prysmian's Dee Why facility to witness the millionth kilometre being processed. I think we can safely say that the first milestone has been achieved, and we look forward to tripling that volume in the next 12 months."

Edwards also visited the Sydney suburb of Blacktown where a high capacity 576 fibre cable was being installed for the National Broadband Network. Prysmian Group fibre cables will enable over 16,000 homes and businesses in the area to access high-speed broadband before the end of 2013.

Edwards last visited Australia 12 months ago when the NBN rollout was still in its early stages. "Having realised the challenges then, it’s good to actually see the project gaining momentum. Seeing the thing we spend our passion creating, seeing the guys' working on the side streets of a busy town in Australia installing our rather fluorescent cable was very exciting."

Prysmian CEO Australia and New Zealand Llyr Roberts also attended the Blacktown installation. "There's no doubt that from a telecom perspective, and even for our total business in Australia, our manufacturing activities will be heavily dominated by NBN for years to come," Llyr says of the five year $300million contract for fibre optic cable. "It's very exciting to be part of it – it has unique scope as a nationwide government project."

Roberts says he believes only a government initiative could provide such a service to every home in Australia. "I don’t think private enterprise could commit to such an extensive national network as this, comprising 93% fibre, 4% wireless and 3% satellite. Private enterprise would probably have needed to cherry pick the more affluent, higher density areas. Australian’s believe in social equity and this brave and innovative national broadband network is for the future benefit of everyone.” he says. “To be actively engaged in this as a major supplier gives us a good reference when we engage with our global customer base."

34,500 Australian homes and businesses are already using the National Broadband Network as the rollout continues to accelerate. Prysmian Group invested heavily in its Dee Why facilities to ensure its specialist fibre optic cables could be manufactured locally. They will be installed underground, mainly in existing ducts, covering up to 80 percent of suburban Australia in NSW, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and the ACT.