I welcome the announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, that 44,100 homes and businesses in Camperdown, Canterbury, Enmore, Newtown, St Peters, Stanmore and Sydenham will have access to National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre services under NBN Co’s first three year fibre rollout plan.
Under the three year rollout plan, construction of the fibre network in these areas will begin progressively between 1 April 2012 and 30 June 2015.
The NBN rollout is ramping up and is about to go into high gear. In the next three years, 26,500 homes and businesses locally will be on the way to having access to fast, reliable broadband through the NBN’s fibre network.
The NBN will connect 93 per cent of homes and businesses around Australia to high-speed fibre broadband, capable of speeds of up to one gigabit per second. Seven per cent will have access to high-speed fixed-wireless or next-generation satellite technologies providing peak speeds of 12 megabits per second.
The NBN is about more than just faster broadband. This is about supporting businesses in the Inner West and around Australia to connect to new markets and find new, better ways of doing things to make their businesses more productive and more profitable.
It’s about families in the Inner West getting online to access health and aged care services, it’s about people who need government services being able to access those online, and it’s about our kids getting access to world class education services, for example by being able to take a class at another school via the NBN.
The NBN will drive a new wave of digital innovation – changing the way Australians live, do business, receive services and connect with the world. The NBN is just the platform – the really exciting part is the new possibilities it opens up.
NBN Co, the company building and operating the NBN, released its first 12 month rollout schedule in October 2011. That schedule, updated for the first time in February 2012, will be updated quarterly. The three year rollout plan will be updated each year.
There is an interactive searchable map on the NBN Co website. Visit www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/ and enter your address to see details for the NBN coming to your area.