The company building the national broadband network has put a call out for providers to train workers needed for the $35.9bn project.

NBN Co has planned staff training for the second half of 2012 so that staff are ready for the network to roll out two years later.
Registered training firms are being sought to ensure workers are skilled enough to build the country-wide network.
NBN Co head of corporate services Kevin Brown has said the skills and qualifications required to build the network varied from engineers to manual labourers.

"[This] will provide real opportunities for local employment, not least among the 8,000 to 9,000 semi-skilled workers - some 50% of the total anticipated NBN workforce - who we expect can be trained in a timeframe of fewer than three months."
Brown said half the workforce would be labourers, earthmoving plant operators and road traffic controllers. A third will be telecommunications lines workers who will require between four and 24-months training and cablers who will need two weeks to 18 months training, depending on their skillsets.

The fibre-optic cable network is set to provide for 93% of the Australian population.