$400m NBN Fibre Upgrade Deal Won by Visionstream, with $600m of Additional Deals Still on the Way

A $400m construction contract was won by Ventia’s Visionstream. This is part of the NBN Co’s $2.9b investment to upgrade large parts of its fibre-to-the-node network to fibre-to-the-premises on demand. It is said that up to $600m of contracts for other construction firms for the same project are also available.

According to a spokesperson of NBN Co, “We are excited to move into the next phase of the NBN network as we extend fibre deeper into communities and advance the capability and reach of this valuable asset for the nation. The award of construction contracts is an important step in ensuring we deliver on our plans to make our highest wholesale speed plans available, on-demand, to up to 75% of households and businesses on the fixed-line network by 2023.”

“We look forward to working with (Visionstream owner) Ventia and others to deliver these important network upgrades for the nation,” the spokesperson further added.

According to infrastructure services provider Ventia, the contract is expected to deliver a revenue of approximately $400m to the company over the next two and a half years, but this is subject to work orders and volumes.

Ventia Group CEO Dean Banks said, “We are proud to be extending our long-term relationship with NBN Co. We will be using our knowledge of the NBN network – combined with our extensive experience managing other large-scale telecommunication network build and maintenance programs – to continue supporting the delivery of improved digital connectivity for our communities.”

On the other hand, Ventia group executive of telecommunications Tim Harwood said that the company will deliver works across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. “We were instrumental in the delivery of the initial NBN build program and the subsequent maintenance of the NBN network over the past decade...Works under the scope of the new contract will commence immediately.”

“We are currently recruiting for both internal hires and sub-contracting partners to support us,” he added. “For subcontractors, we are particularly encouraging those in Cairns, Mackay, Townsville, and the Hunter Valley to submit an expression of interest to join our subcontractor network.”

Apart from the recently awarded contract, Ventia also has a separate four-year Unified Field Operations Agreement (Unify Services) that includes a couple of two-year options. Under this agreement, Visionstream is supporting NBN with a range of services which includes service activation and service assurance work. These are performed across various fibre, copper, and HFC network technologies  across Victoria and Tasmania.