Regional Australia Bank will use NBN fibre at all 32 of its locations under a deal with Macquarie Telecom.
Macquarie today revealed details of the three-year agreement, which it expects be worth in excess of $1 million.
The company said that in smaller rural areas where the bank has a presence the fibre rollout is expected to allow new services, such as videoconferencing, to be offered.
“This solution combines great technology with our great people and, through facilitation of high-speed connectivity in smaller towns and for small businesses, provides further evidence of our commitment to championing regional prosperity,” the bank’s chief information officer, Rob Hale, said in a statement.
Macquarie estimated a network speed boost of four to 10 times across the bank’s branches.
In June, Macquarie announced it would use the National Broadband Network to deliver business-grade services under a six-year, $100 million deal with NBN Co.
The telco said it would offer services based on NBN Co’s asymmetrical (Traffic Class 4 — the typical residential-grade NBN connection) and symmetrical (TC2) products, as well as the network wholesaler’s Enterprise Ethernet product. As part of that announcement, Macquarie said it would be offering fibre builds on request.
“Historically, this is the kind of deal the bank would have been priced out of because there were no other options in the market,” said Macquarie Telecom group executive Luke Clifton.
“Now we can help Regional Australia Bank and other businesses fix the disparity between what they and their customers need and what their incumbent telcos are giving.”
Regional Australia Bank will have access to Macquarie’s SD-WAN service, the telco said.
In August, NBN Co revealed details of a range of new services targeting businesses. The network operator has previously estimated the business market could deliver $1 billion in revenue.
NBN Co has launched a Business Operations Centre in Melbourne that is dedicated to delivering services for SMBs and enterprises.