Macquarie Telecom forges new $100 million deal with NBN Co for direct wholesale access

Macquarie Telecom is launching a new enterprise-grade NBN service to take on the "the big four" telcos after forging a new deal with the network builder worth more than $100 million.

MacTel will launch 'Business-class NBN by Macquarie Telecom', which includes a full suite of voice, internet, data and SD-WAN products that will be available to businesses across the country for new and existing customers.

MacTel expects billing for the new service to start in the second quarter of the 2019 financial year.

The new offering comes as MacTel gains direct access to all 121 points-of-interconnect (POI) on the national broadband network.

Under the new six-year agreement, NBN Co will provide the underlying wholesale access for the telco's business-grade broadband offering over the virtual network-to-network link, which gives retail service providers direct access to NBN Co's PoIs, using asymmetrical, symmetrical and enterprise capabilities.

Prior to the latest arrangement, MacTel only had access to a handful of NBN Co's PoIs, and was reliant on dealing with competitors for last-mile access, and could not access products that required higher bandwidth.

MacTel group executive Luke Clifford told CRN that with access to all 121 PoIs, the company can now offer broadband services to businesses from coast-to-coast and take on "the big four" telcos.

“Our partnership is an opportunity for customers to develop their NBN-readiness plan with our help," said Clifton.

"The NBN access network will touch every business in Australia now or in the near future. Those organisations which capitalise will have a future-proof investment through which they can meet today’s business needs, while securing long-term choice for their organisations.

"We’re taking an 'un-telco', proactive approach to the NBN access network, where other telcos are using it as a last resort and not putting customers first.”

MacTel said it will also create 50 new jobs to help support its new NBN business.

NBN Co chief customer officer Paul Tyler said the company hoped the agreement with MacTel would be a prototype for future agreements with telcos that offer NBN services to businesses.

"It also demonstrates our underlying network infrastructure is enterprise-ready and we are well and truly open for business," said Tyler

"We look forward to working with Macquarie, and our other industry partners, to ensure their business customers have the opportunity to take full advantage of the benefits the NBN access network can provide."