Australian National Broadband Company shifts sign-ups to net retailers

Australia's National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) will no longer seek a property owner's consent before installing a fiber-optic connection -- a cumbersome process that was blamed for low connection rates in test sites. Instead, it will rely on Internet companies to sign up households and business as they compete for customers on the new network.

Property owners implicitly agree to a connection by requesting services delivered over the super-fast broadband network. However, tenants in rental properties will still need to get the property owners' consent for a fibre-optic connection, or risk being left without fixed telecommunications services, the Victorian tenants union warns. The change comes after NBN Co -- the government company building a new fibre-optic fixed network to replace the ageing copper telephone network -- completed trial roll-outs in five mainland test sites. NBN Co did not have retail partners when the trials started and had to gain a property owner's written consent before installing fibre connections.