TAMWORTH and Armidale will be connected to high-speed broadband under the first stage of the federal government’s fibre optic rollout plan for the National Broadband Network (NBN), announced yesterday.
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By September 2014, it is expected 19,500 premises in Tamworth and 14,500 premises in Armidale will either be connected to the fibre network or work will have started to connect them.
They are among more than 3,000,000 premises nationwide and 1,000,000 in NSW earmarked for work by June 30, 2015.
The three-year rollout map right here
West Tamworth, Hillvue, Taminda, East Tamworth, Oxley Vale and South Tamworth are included in the rollout.
It is believed work will be carried out in stages from December next year and services should be available about 12 months after work begins in each locality.
In Armidale, the mainland launch site of the NBN, 4900 premises have already been connected and construction to connect a further 9600 has begun.
The fibre will provide speeds of up to one gigabit per second.
Prioritising country areas for the rollout and making the service affordable were two of the guarantees New England MP Tony Windsor negotiated with Prime Minister Julia Gillard when he gave his support to the minority Labor government after the 2010 federal election.
“I was determined that the NBN should be rolled out in country areas first, as I believe country people have the most to gain from high-speed broadband,” Mr Windsor said.
The large-scale rollout comes in the wake of agreements between NBN Co and Telstra, which have given NBN Co access to Telstra’s existing infrastructure.
Work has already started in areas surrounding Tamworth, including Daruka and Moore Creek, to establish the fixed wireless service, and a further 110 premises in the New England are connected to the interim satellite service.
By the time the NBN is completed in 2021, 93 per cent of premises will be connected to fibre optic and the remaining 7 per cent will be connected by satellite or fixed wireless, which will deliver peak speeds of 12 megabits per second.
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy said the NBN would make Australia more globally competitive and productive.
“The NBN is the platform on which businesses will develop better and more efficient ways of running their enterprises and improving productivity,” Senator Conroy said.
