Vodafone expands NBN footprint, partners with Netflix

Vodafone is expanding its NBN footprint to Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania, the telco announced today.

Vodafone in December began taking orders for NBN services in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Geelong, Newcastle and Wollongong as part of the company’s long-anticipated fixed-line broadband play.

“We are truly going national,” said Vodafone’s consumer business unit director, Ben McIntosh.

Vodafone’s foray into fixed-line broadband included the release of a NBN-compatible router equipped with 4G backup. Next month the company will release its second piece of hardware for its NBN customers: Vodafone TV.

The Android TV-based set-top box is manufactured by Technicolor and will provide access to all apps available from the Google Play store. “It is the most open version of Android TV,” McIntosh said.

Vodafone TV will cost $120 or $5 a month over 24 months. The box is not locked to Vodafone’s service.

The device includes a remote control that has built-in support for Google Global Search. “We are planning for future upgrades down the track to make it full Google Assistant [capable],” McIntosh said.

Vodafone has also announced a partnership with Netflix. The telco’s NBN customers on 24-month plans, with the exception of those on the slowest speed tier, will receive a free 12-month subscription to the streaming service, which can be accessed through Vodafone TV.

(Existing Netflix subscribers will receive the equivalent of 12 months’ credit on their account.)

Vodafone indicated that it was open to launching additional content partnerships in the future.

The company has revamped its NBN plans. The three plans all include unlimited data. Vodafone Basic is based on NBN’s 12Mbps speed tier and costs $59 a month. Vodafone Essential Plus and Vodafone Premium cost $79 and $99 and are based on NBN’s 50Mbps and 100Mbps products, respectively.

Selling the 12Mbps service is not a focus for Vodafone and the vast majority of NBN services the company has sold have been the faster tiers, McIntosh said.