NBN Co is beginning to contract out the overbuild of parts of the fibre-to-the-node network with full-fibre. The company referred to the project as ‘the N2P Evolution’. It has brought in four construction partners to accomplish the mission of the project.

The four construction partners include the Downer Group, Fulton Hogan Utilities, Lendlease Services, and Ventia-owned Visionstream Australia. These construction partners will handle over a billion dollars of work.

The value of NBN Co’s “N2P Evolution” contracts for Lendlease and Fulton Hogan Utilities was recently disclosed.

According to the reports, Fulton Hogan Utilities was awarded a $138m design and construction contract. On the other hand, Lendlease is said to be awarded a $400m contracts based on the disclosure of a $1.1b total contract pool. Of this pool, $400m has gone to Ventia and $160m to Downer. However, Lendlease declined to comment on the value of its contract for NSW, Victoria, Queensland, and the ACT.

The work of Fulton Hogan is set to run until the end of 2023. The project is set to provide a capability for fibre to premises in many parts of metropolitan and regional South Australia and Western Australia. According to Fulton Hogan Utilities CEO Lee Revell, “We have been a proud delivery partner of NBN Co for over seven years and are extremely pleased to be a future partner of NBN Co’s N2P Evolution program. This new contract allows us to employ hundreds of Australians, helping Australia recover from the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, and allowing us to positively contribute back to the communities we serve.”

Peter Andreopoulos, the GM of communications, added that “FHU prides itself as a leader in Safety and Quality and will be ensuring that we contribute to this next phase of the NBN journey with the same high standards. Our team has focused on innovation and operational efficiency that are sure to result in high levels of customer satisfaction.”

Meanwhile, Lendlease declined to comment on the matter.

On the other hand, Ventia disclosed Visionstream's deal, noting that it had picked up $400 million of work while Downer EDI said that it had picked up N2P Evolution work expected to be valued at around $160 million.

“We were instrumental in the delivery of the initial NBN build program and the subsequent maintenance of the NBN over the past decade, and we are looking forward to delivering this new program of work,” Tim Harwood, Ventia Group’s executive of telecommunications, said.