NBN Co, the firm mandated by the Australian government to design, build and operate a nationwide fibre network, has revealed that it has slightly exceeded its target to have construction commenced or completed in areas covering 758,000 premises before the end of 2012.

The total number of premises in areas where construction had commenced or completed was 784,592 by year end, and NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley describes this achievement as a “clear indication” that the NBN project is ramping up to full volume rollout.

“I particularly thank our network planning and design team, our contract managers and our construction partners for their efforts,” said Quigley. “By working together to achieve this year-end outcome the combined project team has established the settings to reach the peak rollout target of passing over 6,000 premises a day by 2015.”

To date, NBN Co has contracted with four construction companies to build the local network through the streets: Silcar (New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT); Visionstream (Tasmania); Transfield (Victoria); and Syntheo, a joint venture between the companies Lend Lease and Service Stream (Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia).

The NBN Co team is now aiming to achieve its end June 2013 target of 286,000 premises passed, offering wholesale download speeds of up to 100Mbps to 93 per cent of Australian premises by June 2021, at a total cost of A$38bn ($39bn).