NBN: Business
Fact Sheet
What is the National
Broadband Network?
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is a high speed
network designed to reach all Australian premises with a
combination of fibre, fixed wireless and satellite. It is significant
communications infrastructure to be used by Australians for
many decades to come.
Case study: Willunga Farmers Market
The Willunga Farmers Market is one of thousands of similar
markets around the country that connect shoppers with the
people who grow and produce their food. Every Saturday,
Ms Billy Doecke, Assistant Manager of the market’s not-forprofit organising committee, opens the gates at dawn and
makes sure everything runs according to plan.
Services provided over the NBN have the potential to open new
markets for businesses and boost productivity and efficiency.
How could you increase
your business advantage
with the NBN?
Businesses may have new opportunities to create strategic
advantages and create new online digital plans to work and
trade more effectively with high speed internet access provided
via the NBN.
Possible online business benefits include:
Live chat and video calls – to provide new ways
to service and interact with your customers
Extended business hours online –
to allow for 24 hour online trading
The farmers market upgraded to an NBN fibre
connection from ADSL2 in October last year, and Doecke
said it had made her work a lot more efficient and easier
to concentrate on both promotions and logistics.
“We started with a YouTube channel with a market wrap
on what was in season every Saturday.
I would film a quick 30 seconds and upload it to YouTube.
Previously, without the NBN, it would take four hours to
load using our ADSL internet connection.”
Greater efficiency and lower costs with the time
saved in sending and receiving large files online
“We’re also developing a virtual tour of the market. It’s
in the early stages of development, but it would allow
people to walk around and see who is there and where
they are positioned on the day and what they’re selling.”
Attracting and retaining skilled staff, who may
not live near your office, through teleworking
Ms Billy Doecke, Assistant Manager,
Willunga Farmers Market Committee
Flexibility in locating your business offices with
24 hour online access
To take advantage of these new opportunities, you’ll also need
to make sure you’re utilising the right software, equipment and
connections in your office to access services like live chat or
teleworking. Some business services may require equipment
or software upgrades to be switched to the NBN. For further
details on these services visit www.nbnco.com.au/business
Speed and reliability of broadband
outside the major cities is a big issue
for small business. Out in regional
Australia it makes a big difference.
We want the NBN, we need it.
People are excited.
Businesses in the fibre footprint have the opportunity to benefit
with the release of the first stage of the NBN’s fibre product
enhancements.
Peter Strong, Executive Director,
Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA)
www.nbnco.com.au
NBN Fibre Enhancements for Business
New additional business features available over fibre will be
provided to retail service providers, to allow them to enhance
the services they can offer you - they’ll be providing you the
service in the same way that the existing NBN Co Fibre Access
Service is offered to you.
These optional enhancements include:
• improved support coverage and restore times
• increased ability to support multi-line voice services and
telephony applications giving customers access to multiple
lines within their premises
These business grade enhancements are expected to help retail
service providers offer businesses with high speed broadband
and quality multi-line voice services, while improved service levels
may assist in supporting longer hours of business operation.
Maximising business success
According to the Council of Small Business of Australia
(COSBOA), services provided over the NBN could promote
improved workplace flexibility, which can save time and money
and improve work/life balance, while opening up new business
opportunities1.
Keeping pace internationally and
accessing new markets
The internet has created a global marketplace allowing people
to shop when it suits them and access suppliers around the
world.
Australian online retail sales are expected to almost double
from A$16.9 billion in 2009 to A$33.3 billion in 2015 and,
according to Forrester research, Australian retailers will face
greater competition and customer expectations will rise2.
This environment provides opportunities, through services
delivered over the NBN, in how businesses interact with their
customers. For example, it might make it easier for customers
to contact businesses at times that suit them with 24 hour
access, increase access to customer service via the channel
that suits them or to enjoy secure online payments.
The quality and speed of websites is also becoming
increasingly critical to business success. Around 47 percent of
consumers expect a web page to load in two seconds or less
and 40 percent would abandon the page if it took more than
three seconds to load3.
Potential for increased access to business
expertise and greater staff retention
By providing access to high speed broadband to 100 percent
of Australian premises, the NBN has the potential to make
it easier for your business to access and attract staff from a
greater talent pool, who may not live locally or may need to be
at home. High speed broadband could provide the ability to
telework, allows for flexible working hours and the ability for
online training.
Research suggests that if 10 percent of Australian employees
were to telework 50 percent of the time, the total annual gains
from teleworking would be in the order of $1.4 - $1.9 billion per
year4.
Boosting business efficiency
Access to high speed internet can provide businesses with new
opportunities to create strategic advantages and create new
online digital plans to work and trade more effectively.
The trend towards moving business processes online
continues to escalate. Services provided over the NBN are
expected to allow businesses to take advantage of these
processes, particularly for businesses located in rural, regional
and remote Australia, which may have significantly slower
broadband speeds.
Small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy,
making up to 96% of businesses and accounting for almost
half of industry employment5. They account for 46% of
Australia’s GDP and 4.8 million direct employees6. The NBN will
be important infrastructure on which businesses can run faster
and smarter.
For more information:
Phone 1800 OUR NBN (1800 687 626)
Visit our website at www.nbnco.com.au
Email [email protected]
Watch our YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/nbnco
Follow us at twitter.com/nbnco
The NBN is important infrastructure that could help Australia’s
SMBs to keep pace in competitive global markets, particularly
in rural, regional and remote areas where internet speeds may
be slower.
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5
6
Council of Small Business of Australia, 2009, ‘Realising our Broadband Future for Small Business’
Forrester Research, 2011, ‘Australian Online Retail Forecast: 2010 to 2015’
Verdict Research Centre, 2010, ‘UK e-Retail’
Access Economics, 2010, ‘Impacts of Teleworking under the NBN’
http://www.innovation.gov.au/SmallBusiness/KeyFacts/Documents/SmallBusinessPublicatons.pdf
Ibid