A DECISION on when super-fast broadband internet will be rolled out across Tamworth won’t be known for at least 18 months.
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Up to 85 per cent of NSW will be switched on to high-speed broadband in the next three years, but Tamworth won’t find out when work will begin until early 2017, according to an NBN Co spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman said while the company was aware Tamworth was one of the regions that had been “desperately crying out” for the National Broadband Network, there was nothing on the immediate radar.
“Everyone will get it eventually. Watch this space,” she said.
Armidale was one of five original test sites for the NBN under the previous Gillard government, but the rollout plan for the New England was revisited after the Coalition took office in 2013 and announced its own broadband plan.
In April, construction on the fixed wireless rollout for homes and businesses in West Inverell and Willow Tree began, with almost 400 premises due to be connected by early next year.
At the time, federal member for New England Barnaby Joyce said efforts to speed up the rollout were paying off, and that “trials have started to test other technologies which will dramatically lower the cost and time it will take to deliver fast broadband to all Australians”.
The ongoing delays for Tamworth have, however, led to fears it will be harder to attract businesses that rely on high-speed networks to the region.
“If you’re a big business and you’re setting up a regional office in Dubbo or Orange, or somewhere that has NBN, and Tamworth doesn’t, would it make a difference?” Tamworth Regional Council general manager Paul Bennett said late last year, when it was announced the city faced an extended wait for the NBN.
NBN Co, the government-owned company, works on 18-month schedules and Tamworth isn’t included in the latest plan.
However, it aims to have Australia covered by the broadband network by 2020.