Sydney, 1 August 2017 - Communications Alliance has welcomed the statement of the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Mitch Fifield, today that Government, regulators and Industry participants will invest more time and resources into research to understand customers’ experiences in the course of and post-migration to NBN-based networks.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said he believed all stakeholders, including industry, Government, regulators and consumers were committed to working to improve the experience of customers as they migrate their services to NBN-based networks and subsequently use those networks to meet their broadband needs.

“nbn and retail service providers (RSPs) have been and continue to work intensely behind the scenes to identify and address any process or coordination issues during service migration and to optimise the ongoing service performance.

“Communications Alliance is also reviewing the outputs of our relevant working committees, that have generated co-regulatory instruments such as Industry Codes and Guidelines, to see whether improvements or further work are needed.

The working committees, which include expert representatives from nbn, other fibre network providers and retail service providers, have done valuable work in a range of NBN-related operational areas, including:

• the migration of so-called ‘over-the-top’ devices, such as medical and security alarms, across from legacy networks to the NBN;
• migration processes to fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP), fibre-to-the-basement/node (FTTB/N) and hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) services;
• enabling customers to switch from one retail provider to another once they are on an NBN-based network;
• processes for customer cabling connections to the NBN;
• number portability; and
• fibre-ready pit and pipe specifications for real estate developments.

“Each of these groups is now reviewing its outputs, be that a Code, Guideline or Specification, and examining whether it is operating in the market as intended, whether Industry compliance is where it should be, and whether the material needs to be amended or expanded upon, to provide greater clarity and cohesion”, Mr Stanton said.

The results of the review will be available later in the month.

“In the meantime, Communications Alliance and its members stand ready to do whatever is needed to help ensure that the national investment in broadband can reap an appropriate dividend for Australian consumers and businesses.”