NBN Co exceeds rollout targets for FY19

NBN Co has exceed its rollout and activation targets for FY19, with more than three-quarters of premises now able to access a service over the nbn.

During the three months ending in 27 June, NBN Co connected an additional 1.1 million premises. This brought the total number of premises ready to connect to 9.93 million, ahead of the 9.7 million forecast in the company’s latest corporate plan.

Meanwhile, 5.52 million premises have activated nbn services, slightly ahead of the target of 5.5 million.

The company plans to release its full end-of-year results during a briefing on 15 August.

Meanwhile, research commissioned by the company, and conducted by economics and data-analytics advisory firm AlphaBeta, indicates that the nbn is positioned to play a key role in upskilling Australia’s workforce for the digital age.

The report found that the nbn is already helping to prepare students for the future of work by improving connectivity. Since 2014, the nbn has increased the average speeds experienced in households with children by 2.7 times, and students in nbn households on average spend 15 minutes more per weekday doing their homework online than their peers in non-nbn connected areas.

Young Australians in nbn areas are also 1.2x more likely to use the internet for non-formal learning — such as searching for information or watching tutorials online — than non-nbn users.

Teachers are also starting to use technologies such as real-time analytics to guide the learning process, and foster creativity and problem solving.

The research also found that growth in digital economy jobs outpaced the growth in total jobs market by 10 percentage points — by 27% to 17% — between 2006 and 2016. Meanwhile, by 2030, 91% of all jobs are expected to require at least some digital skills.

Image courtesy NBN Co.

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