Townsville ISP joins NBN mainland trials
- 05 August, 2011 10:25
- Comments 1
Townsville-based ISP, On Q Communications, has joined the National Broadband Network (NBN) mainland trials.
Armidale in NSW, Kiama in NSW, Wilunga in SA, Townsville in QLD and Brunswick in Victoria were named as the first five NBN trial sites in March 2010.
On Q is a an ACMA licenced carrier and currently has an existing ADSL2+ and Ethernet customer base throughout regional in Queensland.
It has been around since 2007, and was a predominantly an ISP for businesses until it began servicing the consumer market this year.
Besides ADSL2+ services through its own DSLAMs, On Q also provides symmetrical Ethernet services to business and educational customers using Ethernet over copper, fibre and licensed fixed microwave technologies.
NBN Co has confirmed On Q’s participation in the NBN mainland trial but was unable to disclose the ISP’s progress. So far, only 10 ISPs have passed the NBN Co certification process including Telstra, Optus, AAPT, iiNet and Internode.
In April, 12 ISPs were announced for the trial. Since then a number of ISPs have jumped on-board including TransACT and Eftel bringing the total number of participants to 19.
NBN services have now been activated for a select number of premises in four out of five test sites with Townsville still waiting to go live.
In February, Cyclone Yasi ripped through Northern Queensland and devastated Townsville. At the time, Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, rejected speculation the cyclone would delay the Townsville NBN trial process.
Commercial NBN services are expected to be launched later this year.
It is understood On Q will be an example of an ISP operating a localised NBN service in the Townsville region.
On Q founder and managing director, Mark Frost, has declined to comment on the company’s future plans or involvement in the NBN trial until it re-launches in 2-3 weeks.
Currently the ISP’s website, under its parent company, On Q Telecom, is under construction.
Stay tuned for more news on On Q Communications.
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Comments
Justin Fox
1
I live in Kelsey Creek which is 17kms out of Proserpine, Qld and we want the fibre rollout here! We are not remote, we are only 15mins from town and yet we get absolutely nothing. We have to rely on Satellite which is expensive and slow. We will not be content with the NBN's wireless services as we know perfectly well that is much slower than the fibre and can be impacted by geographical conditions and weather.