10 July 2017
The rollout of the National Broadband Network has surpassed the half-way mark ahead of schedule and ahead of budget, meaning more than 50% of Australian homes and businesses can now access fast, affordable high-speed broadband.
At the end of the financial year, the NBN was available to over 5.7 million premises – that’s 313,000 premises ahead of NBN’s rollout target.
Additionally, more than 2.4 million premises now have an active NBN service – which is 100,000 ahead of target.
In contrast, when the Coalition came into Government in 2013 fewer than 300,000 premises had access to the NBN, and just 51,000 premises had an active service.
Under Labor, the NBN rollout missed every target it was set.
Under the Coalition, the rollout has seen more than 11,000 premises become ‘ready for service’ on the NBN every working day over the past year. The number of premises able to access the NBN has doubled in the same period.
The rollout remains on track and will be available to every home and business across Australia by 2020.
The Coalition’s multi-technology mix has seen new technologies, higher speeds and greater download quotas introduced into the NBN:
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Trials of fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC) technology have already commenced, with the large-scale deployment of FTTC to follow in coming months – which will connect up to one million premises.
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NBN’s fixed wireless service will soon double its fastest-available download speed to up to 100 Mbps, and will be launched in early 2018.
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NBN’s Sky Muster satellite service has increased available data allowances, meaning users are expected to receive around 50% more peak data and twice as much off-peak data from October 2017.
While the Coalition’s NBN is ahead of its rollout targets, it is also keeping broadband prices affordable.
The rollout milestone coincides with the release of a new report by the Bureau of Communications and Arts Research (BCAR), showing that broadband prices on the NBN are comparable to ADSL services, while offering a range of faster speed tiers and greater choice for consumers.
The BCAR report shows that regional Australia in particular is benefiting from more choice and reduced prices thanks to the Coalition’s NBN.
More information on the BCAR’s report is available at www.communications.gov.au/bureau-communications-arts-research.
This is in stark contrast to Labor’s rollout, which would have seen a $43 increase in monthly internet bills.
Labor’s gold-plated NBN would have cost an additional $30 billion, and taken six to eight years longer to complete, leaving millions of Australians without access to high-speed broadband well into the next decade.