The National Broadband Network (nbn) is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Australia.

The nbn will connect Australian homes and businesses to a faster broadband landline and internet network by 2020.

Maddocks advised Australian telecommunications hardware vendor NetComm Wireless Limited (NetComm) on its deal to supply Distribution Point Units (DPUs) to nbn for use in connection with nbn’s Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point (FTTdp, also known as Fibre-to-the-Curb) access technology.

Under this major deal, NetComm will supply DPUs and related services for the Fibre-to-the-Curb roll out of the nbn, which is expected to cover a potential footprint of 700,000 premises across the country.

The Maddocks team on the matter was led by partner and Technology sector head Brendan Coady and included support from partner Andrew McNee and experienced associate Jack Evans.

NetComm’s DPU technology will play a significant part in the Fibre-to-the-Curb roll-out. The Fibre-to-the-Curb access technology works by delivering fibre all the way to the telecom pit outside a premises, where it connects into a DPU that then uses the existing copper line from the pit to the home.

This technology is expected to save time and reduce cost and complexity by using this solution in certain areas. In addition, Fibre-to-the-Curb can more readily be upgraded in the future by deploying new copper-acceleration technologies with new DPUs and modems at the end-user premises.