High speed 100mbps NBN to hit a third of the country by 2015 as $36bn broadband is unleashed.
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Construction on $36bn NBN will be “underway or complete” hitting 3.5 million homes and businesses in every state as part of NBN Stage 1, announced its 3 year plan today and kicks off next week April 01 until June 30 2015.
There are three quarters of a million premises where construction work is underway or set to begin this year.
The latest communities to be hit by the Federal Governments high speed broadband train (promising speeds of up to 100Mbps) include Dubbo, Coffs Harbour and Sydney suburbs of Campbelltown, Edgecliff and Mosman in NSW, Monash, Civic and Deakin in ACT, Alice Springs and Darwin in NT.
Qld locations include Cairns and Surfers paradise, while in Victoria, Bendigo, Brunswick and Geelong are also to get the NBN treatment as are WA rural towns Albany, Exmouth plus the plush Perth suburb of Subiaco (near CBD) and Victoria Park.
In all, more than 1 million premises in NSW, 691,000 premises (Victoria), 430, 000 (Western Australia), 327,000 (South Australia), 65,0000 (Northern Territory), 209,000 (Tasmania – the first state which is to be complete), 678,000 (Queensland) 135, 300 (ACT), are to be hooked up to fibre broadband.
Is your town included? Get the full list here
All new locations were announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard along with sidekick (and Minister For Broadband) Stephen Conroy in Sydney this morning.
The hodgepodge of locations includes 67 Labor, 61 Coalition and 6 crossbench electorates, Minister Conroy declared, looking quench speculation the contoversial NBN project is a big fat Labor electoral ploy.
The $11bn deal with Telstra to use its infrastructure “delivers value to taxpayers by enabling NBN Co to build the network faster and more efficiently than would otherwise have been the case,” NBN Co insists of its $36 controversial network which the Liberal party are threatening to strip from the ground if it comes into power.
Access to Telstra’s existing infrastructure, underground ducts and exchanges, will also reduce disruption to communities.
“This is a significant day for Australia’s digital future,” said NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley said.
“Construction contracts are in place and the major commercial and regulatory hurdles have been cleared, giving us the momentum we need to deliver better broadband to every Australian no matter where they live.”
Read: Hello High Speed: NBN Full Throttle Hits Tas
Construction project is expected to take around a decade to complete (2020), with 93% of premises receiving broadband via fibre optic cable, 4% via fixed-wireless and the remaining 3% by satellite, NBN Co said today.
It will take around 12 months from the release by NBN Co of detailed maps of each location to when householders/businesses can order broadband services from their telco/ISP.
NBN Co won’t charge consumers for installation of the NBN and all premises within the chosen areas will be given access to the high speed voice/internet services as the copper telephone lines and cable networks are progressively switched off.
But the NBN is not just about faster internet, Quigley insists: “it’s about an upgrade to the infrastructure that will underpin the delivery of vital applications that Australians will need over the coming decades.
“This is a great step forward in preparing our country for the future and helping to address some of its biggest challenges in healthcare, education and business.”
