IT might not be perfect, but the mixed-technology roll out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) is what kept the doors of small businesses open through COVID-19, according to NBN Co local general manager Chris Cusack.
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The corporation has hit back at Tamworth Regional Council's (TRC) claims the NBN roll out has failed rural and regional communities at an 'exorbitant' cost.
The council voted on Tuesday to make a submission to local government's peak event to ask the federal government to investigate the 'failings' of the NBN.
Mr Cusack said smaller communities on satellite or fixed wireless should lobby all levels of government to move to fixed line technologies.
"We will create a co-investment fund for $300 million to work with state, federal or local governments to upgrade communities that might be on fixed wireless or satellite and we are consulting with them on that," he said.
"Between 2010 and 2020 the key expectation was how do we actually deliver on that as fast as possible, while nobody could have predicted COVID would come along, the fact we adopted a multi-technology mix meant 98 per cent of Australians either were connected or able to connect to the network."
TRC strategy and performance executive manager Jason Collins said in his report the $1.3 million quote given to Mr Petronaitis is "entirely unsatisfactory" when Tamworth could have had fibre to the premises in 2010.
"The initial plan of the NBN was fibre to the premise, then changed to fibre to the node as a cheaper option," he said.
"While there are options for a free upgrade, it is capped and has caveats." The submission argues NBN Co could have used fibre instead of copper at the initial install.
Cr Mark Rodda said the issue was raised as a matter of concern by a businessman who was told the bill would cost $1.3 million for fibre to the premise.
"There's other quite significant figures quoted too for connection even in areas where the optic fibre cables go past premises," he said.
"This is a sting in the tail of privatisation that we lost an organisation like Telstra that probably would have provided a great telecommunications system if it was still publicly-owned."
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Council's general manager Paul Bennett said it needs to be acknowledged that business owners can connect to the NBN for free through a specific program.
Cr Col Murray said he had reservations about lobbying for other local government areas.
"The suggestion these areas are in our managed client services area - it's in my view a misleading statement and I don't think we should be making misleading statements," he said.
"For that reason, if that's the case I'd have to vote against this motion because its inappropriate for us to lobby on behalf of other government bodies if we don't have consent or permission to do so."
Other LGA's were removed from the submission and business options mentioned.
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