The list of holdouts for the latest NBN agreement is growing smaller by the day, with The Australian reporting Optus as the latest big service provider to sign on.
The latest agreement, to cover the next 12 months, will move the National Broadband Network out of its trial phase and into the first stage of retail provisioning. Other holdouts who have recently signed on include iPrimus and iiNet. iiNet had raised concerns over who would be responsible for fixing what, in the event of outages.
Optus is currently Australia’s 2nd largest internet service provider, mostly thanks to its presence in the mobile market, where it resells its network to almost every budget reseller. It also has a substantial cable broadband network of its own, and is Australia’s 4th largest ADSL provider.
The sole remaining holdout amongst major ISPs is now TPG, who have characteristically kept quiet about the nature of their concerns.
Telstra has also failed to sign on, though this is likely due more to the complex relationship the telco giant has with NBNco, to whom it will be handing over the bulk of its wholesale infrastructure in an $11bn deal signed in October 2011.