Federal Government-funded National Broadband Network company (NBN Co) has requested networking equipment vendors and network integrators provide it a statement of their capabilities in preparation for the build out of a $43 billion fibre-to-the-home (FttH) national network.
The company posted an advertisement in The Weekend Australian on Saturday December 5, to inform networking providers that it would be releasing a Request for Capability Statement by 5pm Monday December 7.
Companies can register for interest here.
"We want to receive Capability Statements from experienced suppliers of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and related active equipment to support the deployment of a point-to-point and gigabit passive optical (GPON) network," the company's advert said.
NBN Co said the request from networking companies would be the first of several it will seek "so [it] can fairly select the right partners."
The process is open to both vendors, resellers, integrators and even the humble construction company.
A spokesman for NBN Co told CRN that the Request for Capability Statement process allows NBN Co to "objectively look at the capabilities of suppliers before a final Request for Proposal (RFP) process."
Interested parties are likely to include Swedish vendor Ericsson, Japanese manufacturer NEC and Chinese vendor Huawei.
Alcatel-Lucent will also have a good showing with NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret both former executives from the company.
Networking providers have only until 5pm on Monday December 21 to write and submit an electronic response to NBN Co's request.
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