NBN reseller Epic Broadband goes bust

NBN retail service provider Epic Broadband has revealed it has gone into liquidation, according to an advisory from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

The TIO said it was advised by the telco of this development and also advised affected customers to find an alternative service provider “as soon as possible”.

The company’s website has also been down, only showing an advisory that the service is unavailable.

One-time collaborator Finder, which had previously offered Epic Broadband services on its site, revealed that Epic Broadband customers have had issues accessing their NBN services since Friday, 7 May 2021, and removed all related services on its site.

In a Whirlpool thread from December 2020, an Epic Broadband representative said the company was “recently launched” at the time and has relationships with Telstra, Vocus, Optus and Ausgrid to connect to NBN points of interconnect (POIs). The company at the time claimed it oversubscribed NBN CVC by at least 30 percent to offer NBN plans of up to 250Mbps.

Vocus confirmed with CRN that Epic Broadband was indeed a previous wholesale customer, and that the company failed to pay its accounts.

“Epic Broadband was found to be in breach of contract with Vocus wholesale in relation to its unpaid account, which is significantly in arrears. Payment is an essential requirement of our ability to provide ongoing network services to our customers,” a Vocus spokesperson told CRN.

“Following multiple unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue and having provided numerous warnings that services would be affected, Vocus ceased providing wholesale services to Epic Broadband late last week.

“Epic Broadband’s end users will be required to contact a new retail service provider (RSP) to activate a new NBN broadband service. Vocus will facilitate the transfer of affected end customers to their new RSP as quickly and efficiently as possible.”