NBN Co says it is on track for the September commencement of commercial super-fast broadband services with the signing of the first retail service providers to connect to the new network for trials on mainland Australia.

NBN Co Head of Product Development and Sales, Jim Hassell, today announced 12 retail service providers (RSPs) have signed an agreement with NBN Co to deliver services over the new network as part of upcoming end-user trials across the five first release sites on the Australian mainland.

The 12 RSPs that have signed to take part in the trial are: AAPT, AARNet, Comscentre, Exetel, iiNet
Internode,iPrimus,Nextgen Networks, Optus, Platform Networks, SkyMesh and Telstra.

Mr Hassell said “These RSPs comprise small and large-scale service providers and represent over 95 percent of the market in the first release sites.”

According to him, of the 12 RSPs who have signed with NBN Co, four have already been through the on-boarding process and are NBN-ready. They are iiNet, Internode, iPrimus and Telstra.

These four RSPs are expected to be the first to connect customers to the national broadband network on mainland Australia when they begin connecting customers as part of the end-user trial to begin in Armidale in the near future.

Armidale is one of five first release sites on the Australian mainland, and the first site to commence testing of the new network.

The remaining eight RSPs that have signed with NBN Co to offer services over the network: AAPT, AARNnet, Comscentre, Exetel, Nextgen Networks, Optus, Platform Networks, and SkyMesh, will now begin the on-boarding process in preparation for participation in the first release site end-user trials.

The NBN Co on-boarding program is a process by which NBN Co works with RSPs to prepare them for accessing the network effectively and efficiently.