Regional centres to pay for National Broadband Network cost blowouts
June 1, 2011
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is cutting corners in order to cover the cost of their blowouts.
As a result of this, thousands of regional consumers will be denied the opportunity to receive faster speeds through the NBN interim satellite service.
Federal Member for Murray, Dr. Sharman Stone said NBN Co. has just announced that regional broadband users will not be eligible for the NBN interim satellite service if they currently access download speeds of 512 kilobits per second. This is fairly standard speed across our area.
“This will mean some regional users may now have to wait four years before they can access faster internet and download speeds, despite the assurances from the Gillard Government and NBN Co.,” Sharman Stone said.
“When Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the interim satellite system he assured users that speeds of up to 6 megabits per second would be made available. Now it seems this speed will be made available only to a small number of users.
“The cost of the NBN rollout continues to mount, and these costs will be passed on to the people of regional Australia.
“The irony of this is that the majority of black spots and the need for increased speeds are in regional Australia,” Sharman Stone said.
“As it stands, towns with less than 1,000 households will not have access to the NBN but they will be expected to pay for it. As well, they may not have access to the promised interim satellite service.
“I call on both the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government Simon Crean to provide us with some assurance that we will have access to high speed broadband that is affordable,” Sharman Stone said.
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