NBN Co inks WA, Vic construction deals

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news NBN Co has signed landmark contracts with two construction firms which will fuel the rollout of the fledgling fibre network in Victoria and Western Australia over the next several years.

According to a statement issued by the company this afternoon, the first deal was inked with Transfield Services to cover Victoria. It will be worth $133 million over the next two years, although that figure will extend up to $395 million if the contract is extended for a further two years. The Victorian contract will see Transfield working on early stage rollout zones in locations in the state such as South Morang, Bacchus Marsh and Brunswick, where there is already an early stage NBN rollout zone.

The second contract has been signed with construction firm Syntheo, which is a joint venture between Lend Lease and Service Stream. This deal, covering Western Australia, will be worth about $174 million over two years, and could extend to a maximum value of $484 million if it is extended for a further two years. The WA contract will see construction work kick off in Geraldton, Victoria Park and Mandurah.

The new contracts, along with previous arrangement signed with fellow construction firm Silcar, which has started aiding NBN Co in rolling out the NBN in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT, will bring the total percentage of construction work planned over the next two years which NBN Co has contracted out to 60 percent.

“Signing these two agreements to expand construction activity means the rollout of the NBN now begins in earnest in Victoria and Western Australia,” said NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley in his company’s statement. “NBN Co is gearing up to meet the challenge of passing 6,000 homes per day when at full capacity.”

NBN Co estimates it will take about 12 months from the date when it starts construction in each location to the date when the first services in those regions are activated.

opinion/analysis
There’s not really much to say here – these are two critical contracts which will help the NBN accelerate its rollout over the next several years. NBN Co appears to be solidly on top of its contruction contracts again, after the brouhaha a few months back which resulted in a breakdown in negotiations between the construction firms and the resignation of its own construction chief Patrick Flannigan.

Image credit: NBN Co

21 COMMENTS

  1. Great news for Victoria. Due to the opt-in this state could prove to be very embarrassing for Ted Baillieu and the coalition in general.

  2. Great news for Victoria. Due to the opt-in this state could prove to be very embarrassing for Ted Baillieu and the coalition in general.

    • Well make sure it’s not rental, apparently it’s the deal breaker that stops you getting it.

      :)

  3. South Morang, Bacchus Marsh, Mandurah…. ROFL

    yup. there’s exactly where a shrewd investor would lay fibre due to local demand and capacity to pay for premium services… NOT.

    *snicker*

    i’d say, 20c in the dollar… 20c in the dollar… oh, maybe 15c in the dollar for Mandurah…

    • Yeah, with all the years of experience you have running multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects, they should have asked you, right?

      • LOL

        you realise most of the clowns running NBNco come from hardware/software vendor backgrounds? (also, i don’t recall a single senior exec with infrastructure/project engineering experience.)

        Pipe Networks founder (who has actually built infrastructure) has stated on public record that NBNco will end up in financial ruin.

        Paul Broad, who’s slated to head Infrastructure NSW, has stated on public record that the NBN is not financially viable.

        oh, and there’s also this thing called “commonsense”.

        try again ;)

          • Well it depends how hard you look.

            “The Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network has resolved to track NBN Co’s progress status even more closely after the network builder missed its first reporting deadline.

            The Committee, which is chaired by independent MP Rob Oakeshott, criticised the Department of Broadband and NBN Co for the lapse.

            Though it made repeated requests for data on NBN rollout KPIs and performance measures, the committee concluded it could not report to Parliament on NBN Co’s progress as required.”

            http://www.itnews.com.au/News/268744,nbn-co-faces-further-scrutiny-over-progress.aspx

    • Yep, they do need to fix those up! NBN Co Man-About-Town Scott Rhodie has replied to a similar query in the past – I think it was along the lines of “working on it!”

      The problem is that until they absolutely nail down the specifications on coverage for a rollout area, they don’t want to commit themselves to a high-res map.

      But I do believe they will do so soon. Coffs Harbour now has a quite detailed map showing rollout boundaries to the street and block. The Tasmanian second release sites similarly. Your area will follow…

      Oh, and if you happen to live in Geraldton, the wireless coverage maps convey an interesting side benefit – as well as indicating the rough contours of expected fixed wireless coverage, they show quite clearly the areas that will get fibre – and you can view them side by side with maps to get a very clear picture of how far the fibre coverage will go.

      • I think my main issue is the wording “high resolution” – remove that and I wouldn’t have been as annoyed ;) On top of this, there are already a bunch of crude maps floating around the place that are much better such as http://bit.ly/qLnOlS however until nbnco announce it officially, I won’t hold my breath.

        I’ve had a couple of drinks with Scott before. As soon as I read “working on it!”, I imagined Scott yelling those words in my head in his distinctive accent before downing a pint and then headbutting a soccer ball.

  4. NBN for South Morang is sweet – most of my estate is on a pair gain from hell .. would like to see some quality maps and ETA for trials …hopefully we can all get of wireless net

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