The company building the National Broadband Network has passed 2 million premises as it looks to hit its target of 2.6 million by the end of the financial year.
Last week, nbn passed the 2 million premise milestone, with 2,028,504 ready for NBN services and just under 1 million active connections.
The milestone more than doubles the number of premises ready for service from May last year. The government-owned infrastructure building is targeting 5.4 million premises passed by the end of the 2017 financial year and 9.1 million by the completion of the 2018 financial year.
On a state-by-state basis, New South Wales and Queensland have the most premises ready for NBN services with 635,000 and 416,000 respectively.
Victoria has 396,000, Western Australia has 172,000, Tasmania has 140,000, South Australia has 133,000, the Northern Territory has 62,000 and the Australian Capital Territory has 46,000.
On Friday, NBN will release its financial results for the third quarter. NBN chief executive Bill Morrow will also be appearing at Senate estimates in Canberra on Thursday night.
NBN is forecasting to crack $300 million in revenue for the 2016 financial year. However, it is expecting operating expenses of $2.4 billion and an earnings before internet, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss of $2.1 billion due to the uptick in the rollout of the broadband network.
Faster NBN rollout
Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield told Fairfax Media that the Turnbull government acted to make the rollout of the NBN faster and more efficient.
"We know that many Australians want better internet service and they expect the nbn rollout to reach them as soon as possible," senator Fifield said.
"Hitting the two million milestone clearly shows we have put the nbn rollout back on track. Construction is now at a scale that will allow the broadband network to reach more than 5 million homes by the middle of next year.
"Only the Coalition's plan for the nbn keeps broadband affordable. Under Labor, the nbn was a mess, it was a gold plated approach, and the rollout was at snail's pace."
The company's chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan said that in a few months one in four homes would be able to order an NBN service.
"We know the network is changing people's lives, in some cases taking neighbourhoods with little or no broadband to enabling people to better run their businesses, access health services online, improve their children's education and enjoy new online forms of entertainment," Mr Ryan said.
"By mid-2016, around one in four homes will be able to connect to the nbn network. By the end of June next year, that number will be around one in two meaning half of Australia would be able to order a service."
Telstra deal
Telstra will provide design, planning construction and construction management services for the hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network with the aim of completing the upgrade by 2020.
Telstra's HFC footprint includes areas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.
Optus is understood to be negotiating a similar arrangement for its smaller HFC network that it also sold to nbn two years ago.
The networks are in important pillar in the Coalition government's multi-technology mix NBN plan, after it abandoned the previous Labor government's all fibre-to-the-premise plan. By the end of 2018, nbn is forecasting more than 2.3 million premises to be ready for NBN services via HFC.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten confirmed last month that, if elected, it would move to a "hybrid" rollout of the NBN, with more fibre, rather than reverting to its previous policy.
