NBN Co warns businesses about first disconnections for ‘special services’

Business that are simultaneously using voice, video and data telecommunications services have been urged by NBN Co to prepare for service migration ahead of the first disconnections.

With an estimated 200,000 special business services scheduled to commence disconnection from November 2018 onward, the company building the national broadband network is ramping up its communications efforts with businesses.

While most business-grade services such as phone, internet and EFTPOS have had forced disconnection dates since 2014, it is the first time that disconnection of ‘special services’ has been triggered.

Among the services affected are ethernet lite, wholesale business digital subscriber lines (BDSL) and integrated services digital network (ISDN) phone and internet lines.

NBN Co said in a statement that in areas where existing copper-based networks have already been switched off, businesses will need to work with their retailer to move affected services to the NBN.

Amid rollout of the network, all other businesses will have the normal 18-month migration window.

NBN Co executive general manager of business, sales and marketing Ben Salmon emphasised that businesses should be aware “that moving these services to the NBN access network is not an automatic process and can take longer than switching over standard voice and broadband services”.

“We are particularly urging large businesses that have multiple sites, high and symmetrical speed requirements, multi-line telephony and video conferencing facilities, as well as small and medium-sized businesses with multiple phone lines, to get in touch with their service provider and make a plan to move over to the new network,” Salmon said.

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