NBN Co has appointed Fujitsu Australia Limited as its prime alliance partner to deliver fibre infrastructure to new developments following a tender process that began in December last year.

NBN Co CEO, Mike Quigley said that  Fujitsu has the necessary workforce capacity and expertise for rapid deployment to meet the demand for fibre services in new developments. The deal with Fujitsu is expected to be worth $100 million in the first year alone, with the first laying of fibre in new developments to begin within the fortnight.

“Fujitsu, and their construction partner ServiceStream, will provide a managed service including network design, construction and installation works in new developments, working alongside NBN Co’s operations team to integrate with our business and operating systems,” Mr Quigley said.

“Since 1 January 2011 NBN Co has received more than 1,480 applications from developers of new estates, representing approximately 133,000 premises to be connected across Australia. These applications are submitted for individual stages of developments, but due to different construction timeframes and housing demand, fibre deployment will be spread over a period of up to three years. NBN Co will work with developers to deploy fibre as and when it is needed.”

“Our partnership with Fujitsu is a key milestone for NBN Co as it allows us to start deploying fibre into these new developments across the country concurrently,” said Mr Quigley.

 

The decision to appoint single prime contractor is at variance with the tender documents and with comments made by the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, who announced in January that NBN Co would establish "a panel of appropriately qualified and experienced providers who can bid to install fibre on its behalf."


Under the agreement Fujitsu will manage the design, construction and associated works for the deployment of fibre to new developments, with the initial value estimated at over $100M for the first 12 months.

Mike Foster, CEO of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand, said that Fujitsu had made significant local investments in building its network services capability and supporting infrastructure and would be leveraging these investments through the NBN Co. contract.

Fujitsu  employs more than 5,000 people in Australia and New Zealand.