nbn is urging businesses to prepare to migrate their ‘Special Services’ to the nbn broadband access network ahead of the first disconnections.
The company has released a series of White Papers announcing businesses within its fixed-line footprint must now plan for the migration of services such as Ethernet Lite, Wholesale Business Digital Subscriber Lines (BDSL) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) phone and internet lines to the new network.
While there has been forced disconnection dates for most business grade services such as phone, internet, and EFTPOS since 2014, this is the first time the company has triggered the disconnection of ‘Special Services’, which simultaneously use voice, video and data services.
Businesses in areas where existing copper-based networks have already been switched off will need to work with their retailer to move their affected services over to the nbn access network. All other businesses will have the normal 18-month window to migrate their services to the new network from the day they are able to connect.
With an estimated 200,000 services scheduled to commence disconnection from November 2018 onwards, nbn is increasing its communication activity to businesses with ‘Special Services’ to encourage them to prepare to move these complex systems to the nbn access network with as much time as possible.
nbn’s Ben Salmon said “It’s important for businesses to know that moving these services to the nbn™ access network is not an automatic process and can take longer than switching over standard voice and broadband services.
“To increase awareness about what businesses need to do to make the switch, we are boosting our communications activity by refreshing information on the nbn™ website about ‘Special Services’, commencing direct mail marketing and having one-on-one engagements with industry and enterprise customers who may be affected.
“We are particularly urging large businesses that have multiple sites, high and symmetrical speed requirements, multi-line telephony and video conferencing facilities as well as small and medium-sized businesses with multiple phone lines to get in touch with their service provider and make a plan to move over to the new network.
“Businesses who have made the migration early are already starting to see the benefits such as embracing services like cloud computing, multi-line video conferencing and multimedia rich applications to maximise efficiency and lower operating costs.”