Govt Points to Vast Areas to be Reached over Next 12 Months of NBN Build-Up
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has issued on Monday the rollout map of the $37-billion national broadband network (NBN), providing a panoramic view of the high-speed telecommunication infrastructure's nationwide reach.
The maps showed that 165,800 premises in 40 Australian areas will be provided with reliable and super-fast broadband connection based wholly on what the NBN Co has laid out so far, Mr Conroy said in a statement.
"The release of these maps shows that the NBN rollout is ramping up across Australia, with NBN Co on track to meet its target of having construction commenced or completed for 758,000 homes and businesses by the end of the year," the minister was quoted by Technology Spectator as saying.
Presently, he added, thousands of Australians are having a clear taste of what NBN is all about, disclosing that "about 24,000 Australians are already using the NBN, across all three of its technologies," which are wired, satellite and 4G-LTE networks.
Mr Conroy has expressed confidence at the same time that over the next 12 months "people who live or do business in these areas will be able to connect to the fast, reliable and affordable broadband provided by the NBN."
Over the course of the targeted period, thousands of residential and business districts will witness the rolling benefits of the NBN, Mr Conroy added, to blanket the following states and territories with top-tier connectivity technology: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
The government, however, warned too that the benefits attributed to the NBN federal initiative could easily disappear under a national government controlled by the Coalition, which has vowed from the outset to kill the project in favour of a cheaper and easily implemented alternative.
According to Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, even if the NBN will be scrapped by the Liberal-National Coalition, he remains committed to promptly replace it, allaying fears that Australia will be led back to the dark ages.
Mr Turnbull also assured that even if the Coalition would not pick up where Labor would leave on NBN, much of the contracts entered into by the present government will likely be honoured the Abbott Government, should it wins the federal election in late 2013.
Apart from expenses already incurred by the government, ZDNet reported on Sunday that cancellation of deals connected with the NBN will only increase taxpayers' liability by up to $2.3 billion.
The tech news site added that as of June 30 this year, Canberra has already poured a total investment of $965.5 million to the NBN build up, which likely will be wasted under a government headed by Coalition leader Tony Abbott, the communications ministry said.
"The choice for Australians is simple: support Labor and you'll get the NBN; support the Coalition and you won't," Mr Conroy stressed.