Vodafone Australia has revealed plans to branch out into offering fixed broadband services over the national broadband network (NBN).
The operator plans to extend into fixed-line broadband to give its mobile customers more access to data both at home and on-the-go, News.com.aureported.
While the NBN rollout is not scheduled for completion until 2020, around three million premises have access to the network and more than 1.1 million have signed up.
At a press briefing, Vodafone Australia CEO Inaki Berroeta said the move into fixed broadband is a “natural progression” for the company, and it's the right time to make the move because the NBN project is reaching the scale required to deliver an NBN service that complements its mobile network. It is expected that 4 million premises will be NBN-ready by the end of the year.
Vodafone plans to make its first commercial NBN services available next year.
Market research from Roy Morgan indicates that 550,000 of Vodafone's mobile customers already intend to switch fixed broadband provider over the next 12 months, giving the operator a large potential market at the ready.
Vodafone’s customers are also over 50% more likely than average to be dissatisfied with their current fixed broadband provider, and are statistically 10 percentage points less likely than the national average to have market leader Telstra as a fixed broadband provider.