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NBN Co to trial faster fixed wireless services

Bushies to get 25-50Mbps if their retailers want it

NBN Co, the entity charged with building and operating Australia's national broadband network (NBN) has announced a trial of 25-50Mbps downloads and 5-20Mbps uploads on its fixed wireless network.

The trial is for wholesale speeds: retailers will have the choice of creating products at this speed, or ignoring it.

The network-builder says 25-50Mbps is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2015 and that the pilot “is expected to conclude 20 business days after the commercial launch”.

Bushies shouldn't get too excited about the trial, for two reasons. Firstly, retailers don't have to play, so there's a chance your ISP will sit the trial out. Secondly, NBN Co says “The exact number of premises as well as the exact areas covered by the pilot may vary once NBN Co has finalised its planning.”

So even though the press releases are flying, NBN Co itself doesn't yet know just where the pilot will take place.

Those quibbles aside, the news will be very welcome beyond Australia's denser urban areas. That the news comes on top of NBN Co's recent announcements of a fiber-to-your-premises product (At a price), DOCSIS 3.1 to speed internet-over-TV-cable and intention to introduce fibre-to-the-basement service for blocks of flats shows the company is making good strides towards speedier services. Of course even the fastest services NBN Co has hinted at don't get close to the 2Gbps services that Comcast plans in the USA, but they're rather better than the current broadband delivered to Australians, be they in the bush or the 'burbs. ®

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