SINGAPORE (Dec 15): Optus, Australia’s second largest telco wholly owned by SingTel ( Financial Dashboard), has reached agreement with NBN Co on the transfer of its Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) network to the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Under the terms of the deal, Optus will progressively transfer ownership of its coaxial cable and ancillary assets to NBN Co, while retaining ownership of strategic aerial fibre assets used to connect mobile base stations and business customers.

Optus will continue to supply services to customers using its HFC network in areas where the NBN is still to be built or customers have yet to be migrated. Customers will be progressively migrated to the NBN once NBN Co has integrated Optus’ HFC network into the NBN.

The agreement will see Optus share spectrum within its coaxial network with NBN Co to enable it to offer services prior to taking ownership of the coaxial network and fully integrating it into the NBN.

Allen Lew, Optus Chief Executive Officer, said, “Anything that speeds up the rollout of the NBN and increases the size of the contestable national broadband market is good for innovation and competition...We now have clear agreement on incorporating Optus’ HFC network into the NBN architecture. This can provide real benefits for all.”

The revised agreement will need approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Australian Taxation Office.

For the three months ending September 30, Optus’s net profits rose 5.4% to A$230 million ($249 million) while revenue rose to A$2.15 billion; the first increase in almost three years.

SingTel closed 0.3% higher at $3.99 on Friday.