NBN Co to make HFC connections again from late July

NBN Co will resume taking new hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) connection orders from July 26, after replenishing its stock of network termination devices (NTDs) and overcoming workforce management system issues.

The company said in a statement that it now has “sufficient stock” of the HFC modems on-hand, “with further deliveries expected”.

“We are pleased to confirm that we have acquired sufficient stocks of HFC modems and resolved a number of issues that have impacted the availability of field technicians, which will enable us to recommence taking new orders to connect premises to the network via HFC technology,” NBN Co’s chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said.

“We apologise to customers who have been inconvenienced by the initial delay relating to the global shortage of silicon chipsets used to manufacture and supply HFC modems, and the subsequent delays relating to our workforce scheduling system and the availability of field technicians in recent weeks.

“We are working hard to complete all pending orders as soon as possible but, given the level of demand for new connections to the NBN network via HFC technology, we expect that it may take some weeks to fulfill all new connection requests.”

NBN Co paused new HFC orders back in February when it became clear that a global semiconductor shortage would impact its access to supplies of NTDs used at customer premises.

It had hoped to resume taking orders and making new connections in late May, but was forced to delay this timeline because of issues with a new work scheduling system, which made it difficult to assign connection jobs to technicians.

Both sets of issues had now been overcome, NBN Co said today.

“From July 26, the company will begin connecting new customers to the network via HFC technology with customers who have been waiting longest to be offered the first available connection appointments,” it said in a statement.

“It will also make available simple self-install kits to eligible premises to expedite their connection to the network.”