NBN Co releases three-year rollout plan

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news The National Broadband Network company today released a detailed plan of the locations and schedule where it plans to deploy fibre and wireless broadband infrastructure over the next three years, noting that the rollout was slated to hit some 3.5 million premises in 1500 communities in every state and territory in Australia.

The list of locations is available online through an interactive map, and those interested to find out when their geography will be connected can type in their location or postcode to check what the progress is in their area.

The locations were chosen, according to NBN Co, firstly on the basis of meeting a number of policy objectives, namely that construction should take place across both rural and metropolitan areas; that construction should be across all states and territories; that the rollout in Tasmania should be finished by 2016 and that all new developments with over 100 premises should be covered.

In addition, NBN Co added a number of its own guidelines to help determine the schedule, ranging from the idea that the fixed wireless rollout should be completed in 2015 (it will target a small percentage of areas which won’t receive fibre); that satellite broadband via NBN Co’s own satellites should be available by 2015, and that areas where there were a large number of new developments should be prioritised, to avoid old technologies having to be installed — only to be replaced with the NBN later on.

In addition, NBN Co has set a rule that when it has started construction of its network in a certain area, it will complete coverage in that area before moving on to another area. In this sense, it defines areas as ‘fibre serving areas’ of about 3,000 premises per area.

There are currently 750,000 premises where construction is under way or slated to start this year, and eight early locations where the fibre network is already operating. NBN Co also plans to update its rollout schedule once a year, outlining the next series of areas where construction was slated to start. The entire project is expected to take about a decade to complete, and on average, it is estimated to take about 12 months from the release of NBN Co maps of a location, to the time when Australians in that area will be able to order retail NBN services.

In a statement, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley described the release of the plans as “a significant day for Australia’s digital future”.

“Construction contracts are in place and the major commercial and regulatory hurdles have been cleared, giving us the momentum we need to deliver better broadband to every Australian, no matter where they live,” he said.

Flanked by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese, Quigley launched this first major stage of NBN Co’s rollout plans at a press conference in Sydney this morning. Further coverage of that wide-ranging press conference — including video — will be published by Delimiter shortly.

Some examples of the rollout maps:

Image credits: Screenshots of NBN Co’s rollout map

88 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t understand why some of these sites were selected. In northern Brisbane which is heavily covered over the next 3 years they already have access to ADSL2+ and cable, effectively giving them access to 100Mbps connections. Whilst slightly further out areas are stuck on congested Telstra RIMs with next to 3rd world Internet unusable Internet. Why aren’t these areas addressed first? Surely there should to be some needs assessment based on current access, limited selection, etc. By the time my area gets in the schedule there could be a new government and the NBN cancelled. People like Malcolm Turnbull know that the NBN is the best thing for Australia but would rather take the political line then what is best for the country.

    • The primary reason these areas are selected first is due to exchanges and exchange space.

      Can you imagine what would happen if you rolled out the NBN in a heavily congested area, to now tear out the existing infrastruture without severely impacting service?

    • Ya right, even further out, where adsl1 is crap at best, and 3g? well, mobile reception itself at best is patchy so forget data usage, new estates popping up all over out here, mobile carriers dont give a toss, nor does it seem does the Govt and NBN, I guess the some incompetent moronic idiots who designed the telstra dsl2 network now work for nbn, why else give those able to already get 15mbps plus 100mbps and those who hardly get 1mbps, well, who cares, clearly not the Australian labor party, nor the ex telstra staff running telecom Australia mkII… oops, I mean, the nbn

      • Bobby, the rollouts start from an exchange so yes those already getting good speeds will benefit first but at least with fibre once you get it the distance from your exchange won’t affect your speed.

        Besides its a 10 year project and just because your DSL is bad doesn’t mean everyone else’s is good!

        if you really want the nbn, don’t vote for the noalition at the next election and tell your friends and family the nbn is to important to kick labour out of gov.

    • Morley – 6062

      when i look in the pdf it is listed as a subset of Bassendean.

      i think the issue may be that morley covers a large area and perhaps some of it is in the green and some of it isn’t.
      ie. they decided to split the suburb in half when doing the roll out.

      • Hi Clinton,

        Although we are in a suburb it doesn’t mean that we are covering the whole suburb I’m afraid. Although it is possible that once those areas that are in the three year rollout are complete that your area could be next.

        Scott

        • yeah. further study of my suburb’s boundaries shows that about 1/4th of it is actually covered in the 3 year roll out.
          not the part i’m in though. :(

  2. At a guess I’d say the only reason my suburb (Kingsley, WA) is on that list is because it is a marginal liberal seat.*

    That also then poses an interesting question. Would the Libs want to risk cancelling the contract to build the NBN in that area there knowing it could potentially cause a backlash from voters who might just vote for them again?

    *There’s also a new development nearby in Landsdale that is under construction which makes sense to expand from.

    • That theory can work both ways.

      Putting NBN into marginal liberal seat:

      a) Labour gives voters NBN now and maybe they will vote for them because they like what they did.

      b) Labour doesn’t give voters NBN now and maybe they will vote for them because they may not get it if they vote Liberal.

      Given the comments by the anti lobby such as “I have fast ADSL2 therefore we don’t need the NBN” once a Liberal supporter has something they are selfish bastards and don’t give a damn about others. So I say don’t roll out to Liberal areas ;)

      • I say roll it out to Liberal areas, irrespective of whether it is marginal or safe.

        It may win voters for Labor but it also has another effect. Many in those divisions who feel that them receiving the NBN is under threat will put pressure on the incumbent to go in to bat for them so that they do get the NBN.*

        That seat holder is then in a position where towing the party line (with regards to communications policy) could equal lost votes. The pressure on them will then translate in to upward pressure on those like Abbott.

        Kudos to Conroy for playing some shrewd politics today.

        *I’ll be writing to the member for Cowan, Luke Simpkins, and will be pushing him for a stance on broadband (particularly the decision to include a large portion of his electorate in the three year plan). We’ll see if he earns or loses a vote.

    • Mike, I would buy into that. If you look at the Sydney map you’ll see fair chunks of Tony Abbot’s, Joe Hockey’s and Malcolm Turnbull’s seats have three year rollouts happening.

      I certainly wouldn’t be calling North Sydney or Warringah marginal and Wentworth’s been a Liberal seat for decades.

      The talk of the rollout being politically driven is just more of the silly political point scoring we’ve come to expect around the NBN.

      However if I lived in a RIM’d estate that wasn’t getting fibre for more than three years, I’d be irritated.

  3. I love the interactive map. Type in 2000 (the postcode for Sydney) and you get options like

    2000 South, Syracuse, UT
    2000 East, Salt Lake City, UT
    2000 North, Tooele, UT
    200022 Street, Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

    Brilliant!

      • you might also like to look into why the map doesn’t work in google chrome.

        i had to use the IE Tab extension to get it to work.

          • hmm.

            what version?
            i’m on 17.0.963.83 m

            the page itself loads and i get the “where do you live” search bar etc, but no actual map.
            just a white box.

          • it’s no big deal for me.
            like i said, i use ie tab and it works just fine, but i’m really curious now as to why it works for others and not me.

            yet another nbn related thing i’m missing out on. :p

          • not that anyone cares, but it seems the issue only occurs on my work laptop.
            it’s working fine from my computer at home.

            and before anyone asks, i was connecting at work via my pocketwifi, not the work connection, so there was no proxy/firewall jiggery pokery going on.

  4. So like… I’m putting in my USA address but it’s not showing up on the timeline. Darn it! Curse our dysfunctional government…

  5. I’ve heard arguments about why the rollout is biased towards:
    – marginal Liberal electorates (to win them across)
    – marginal Labor electorates (to keep them in the ALP fold)
    – cross bench electorates (to reward the independents for their support)
    – safe Labor electorates (your basic pork-barelling)
    – safe Liberal electorates (fake bipartisanship, or trying to win across some rich suburbs who would love taxpayer-subsidised broadband)

    I’ve also heard a lot of whinging (but I repeat myself).

    Well, my house didn’t get a guernsey this time around, so I suppose I should feel aggrieved or something. I don’t. Either the NBN will somehow survive, or it won’t and I’ll move to a nearby suburb, or whatever.

    The reasons given for why some areas were chosen and others were not make sense. Yes, there could have been other approaches taken (these tend to be self-serving arguments), but that doesn’t prove that this approach was invalid.

    Well done, NBN Co. This is the result of extremely hard work, under enormous pressure and scrutiny. Keep it up, guys!

    • Well said.

      My town is not included either but one about 20km away is, I’m not going to move just for a faster connection (I shouldn’t have to) but should my circumstances change and if the collation clowns get in and cancel the NBN before it gets here that will be an option.

    • Conroy and Quigley today made it clear there was no bias towards any particular electoral area etc — they analysis on this themselves :)

  6. Oh great….. Looks like no NBN for me until 2020! I could be dead by the time it rolls out out here!

    • I miss out too. Both home and work. I wonder what effect the NBN is having on property values. Is a premium developing for NBN covered areas? One omitted area that surprises me (I don’t like there, a couple of work mates do though) is Pakenham, it’s one of the worst areas around Melbourne for broadband. RIMs all over the place, most all access ADSL1 if you can get it, or #G otherwise. Massive congestion issues on both. 3G < 5KB/s of an evening. When you see a newer suburb like Patterson Lakes that has ADSL2+ and cable, good ADSL2+ at that getting it over Pakenham I wonder. Is it because Patterson lakes is suburb full of the fairly rich? I would really like to know the rational on some of the suburb selections.

      • I imagine one reason to install a RIM is exchange space, and another minimising the cost of long cable runs from exchanges.

        NBN Co are probably expanding from exchanges, and I imagine RIM’s are not close to exchanges, resulting in pakenham not being a good starting point.

    • Just our luck… Suburbs less than a 1km to the west, north and east of Lane Cove are all within the 3 year schedule but nothing for suburbs serviced from the Lane Cove exchange (ie. Lane Cove, Lane Cove West, Riverview & Greenwich). It looks like those of us 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney CBD are stuck with, and some of us with below average speeds, ADSL indefinitely.

    • Or Level380 you could vote for the opposition and go back to never having, never getting and we’ll all be dead for sure, but with dial up ;-)

  7. I’m disappointed that there seems to be no detail of the fixed wireless roll-out included apart from the 2015 finishing date… Surely if its done by 2015 certain areas will be activated earlier… Anyway if anyone can check the Goulburn Valley in VIC or 3612 it would be great…

    • Don’t forget the estimated 12 months delay between work beginning and services becoming available…

      Having said that: September 2014 for me – woohoo! (election outcome notwithstanding)

  8. My area (Edwardstown in SA) is set to start construction in Feb 2013, Im thrilled cause my DSL drops out when it rains and despite being 3kms (cable length) from my exchange I only get 4.5mbps most days as the copper is in such bad condition. :-)

  9. Remember the NBN critics, I have, mine’s good enough, I don’t need better, my tax dollars and whatever other complete drivel they could blurt out.

    Sadly this is becoming simply more of the selfishness made so popular by these bigots and even coming from those who have supported the NBN previously…! I missed out, my suburb isn’t, I don’t.

    If NBNCo rolled out in cities only, the regional and rural people would whinge and vice versa. So they spread it out and…

    Damn near everyone fucking whinges… it can’t all happen everywhere NOW. *rolls eyes*

    BTW no NBN for me yet or in the foreseeable future either, cest la vie …

  10. Well I am no closer to knowing if I will get fibre in the next rollout. My suburb is just outside a shaded area, but the text on the side says my area will be built in 2004-2005. According to the NBN guy on Twitter more info should be available later when they have done the detailed network design.

  11. @scott rhodie, any reason why the shaded areas vanish when you zoom in past a certain point?

  12. I am on the rollout for this year, thank you Craig Thomson, thank you. I guess your using Trade Union credit cards did help the community after all :)

    • Couldnt agree more. But to be fair alot of our area has been severely neglected from a broadband PoV for years. I can only get Telstra and resold telstra at my bvale exchange.

  13. Rollout begins December 2013.

    Damn. Was hoping the digging would have begun before the election. Maybe I’ll re-visit the far fetched plan I had to buy an apartment in the new block going up near-by with a great big “C” on it.

  14. To date, there are currently 2700 premises using the NBN. Yes, thats correct, 2700. This three year rollout does not mean that 3.5million premises will have a service, its just more Labor spin. Please read the fine print. If you find yourself on the map, don’t get too excited, it does not mean you will have NBN services, it just means that perhaps some preliminary work has been done in that direction. Spin, spin, spin.

    • Stop reading the right wing mainstream press and do your own research, more than 18,000 homes have been passed and more than 3,000 have been connected to the NBN!

      • More than 3000 have been connected?? Wow, thats less than 4000, I rest my case :-)

        Please do the math, the NBN rollout as promised will never happen…

        As can be seen from responses above, its just vote bait.

        • The average connection take up across the project is apparently 15%, IMO that’s pretty good considering stages 1 & 2 where rollout trials!

          • 15% ? Thats a very poor ROI, don’t you think? I would expect that if the NBN was as good as all the fanbois say it is, the takeup would be much higher.

            What has been that actual cost passing those 18,000 premises, with only 15% takeup? Do the math. Starting from today, what is the connection rate required for the NBN to reach its target for completion? Do the math. What will the true cost be? Do the math.

            Really, considering the figures, don’t you think that the rollout should be based on demand, rather than rolling out to every single premises, since most clearly do not want or need it?

          • Whart part of the word trial are you having difficulty with? BT have an 8% take up on their FTTP network so the NBN is doing just fine – besides it’s irrelevant becasue all fixed line phone & BB customer will be on the NBN once it’s complete.

          • Ahh yes of course, everybody will be on the NBN – one of the key principles of the Communist Manifesto :-)

            Thats fine, be a happy child in your nanny state with your censored internet. Welcome to the next annexe of China.

          • You really are funny Djos. I am neither right wing, nor paranoid. Are you suggesting that its NOT a key principle of the Communist Manifesto? Are you suggesting that Julia Gillard and her cronies are NOT known to be communist? Have you never mixed within the Labor party and heard them all greet each other as “comrade”?? I have.

            Its funny how guys like you have such difficulty with reality. Puhleese take the time to open your baby eyes and have a look at REAL history….. it’s known to repeat itself.

          • And the parent post talking about the “Communist Manifesto” doesn’t attract a warning?

            Guess I need to go re-read that comments policy…

            (not defending either of them, IMHO less political name-calling equals a much higher quality of discussion)

          • And no Huawei equipment!! Damn those Labor commie Chinese-lacky bastards!!!… Wait

          • Btw, FTTP take up in the USA is now at 32% and they’ve had FiOS (13 million homes passed) and other FTTP providers (FTTP has passed more than 17 million homes in the USA) for close to a decade so I reckon 15% take up in the trial area in less than 2 years is pretty good.

          • @Djos the USA isn’t a good example….. Due to the rollout being done by private companies, they are only rolling out the dense areas, ie cities. The country areas suffer badly for internet.

            Do some digging and you will find that the middle of the USA doesn’t even have ADSL due to the return on investment not being there so private companies don’t do it. So without a gov body like ours that is forcing a nation wide rollout it just doesn’t happen.

          • Yep I was aware of that but still think 15% take up on the NBN is pretty good considering it’s been around for less than 2 years.

          • Ah yes, bit like getting excited about your favourite footy team at half time, because they are ahead…

            Only to trudge off home at fulltime beaten to a pulp, again.

            This is just a continuation of the premature fear mongering on numbers. Remember when the NBN had specific trials and engaged just 7 people to do those trials?

  15. in the corporate world, if your idea only had a 15% uptake, not only would the entire idea be scrapped, but so would your position. but this is Govt, so yeah, the masters of wastage, afterall its harder to sack a politcian than a corporate exec, and the polly still gets a massive payout, so they dont give a rats. in the meantime a hanbdful more 16yos can get their pr0n faster, yet teh hospital waiting lists get longer, awesome priorities this labor govt.

    • Good thing it’s got better than 15% uptake then, isn’t it?

      At the end of February, 18000 premises COULD connect, and 5500 were connected…that’s 30.55% uptake.

      Given that none of the Telstra Bigpond customers have come over yet – (and now can with the completion of the deal with Telstra) – 30.55% is actually impressive.

      • I don’t see how the 30% figure could be true, given that the best take-up figures are 29% in Willunga SA and 25% in Kiama, NSW. The Kiama figure was quoted by Quigley in the press conference (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGjF3967fMk&feature=player_embedded#) at around the 18 minute mark.

        If I look at the NBNCo Corporate Plan on page 77, I can find:
        * FY2012: 137,000 premises connected, 316,000 premises passed = 43%
        * FY2021: 8.3 million premises connected, 12.2 million premises passed = 68%
        On page 116, for FY2025, the prediction is 70%. This is significantly higher than the best case of 25%.

    • LOL Nobby, NBN is going to revolutionise hospital waiting lists. Infact, what we save in health services expenditure over time will be enough to pay for the entire NBN. Put aside an hour and watch this presentation by CSIRO ICT Director Dr. Ian Oppermann and get yourself educated http://youtu.be/bKiHB9fMYrA

  16. FYI FrankZester and djos have been banned for a week for breaching Delimiter’s comments policy. If you want to have an unintelligent conversation and scream that people are communists and other insults, do it elsewhere, guys.

    Renai

  17. One of the things I find interesting in the rollout map, is how ‘large’ the wireless areas are that are due to be commencing this year, for me, that could help prop up the take up rate. Also I find the whining that” I’m not getting it within 3 years”, a little bit amusing.

    I’ll also note that I am in an area due to be rolled out to in the next 3 years (Which is a while away, let’s be honest) but my current connection is alright (Download speed is decent, upload speed is normal for ADSL2) so I think I can wait that long. I have used the NBN before, and I will say, it’s worth waiting for. ;)

    • What I find more amusing (well rather illogical) crenn, are those who say I can’t get this, I can’t get that and NBN won’t be here for another 3 years or so, thanks NBNCo…???

      So they are obviously unhappy with what has been dished up to them prior to the NBN (so for the last 10-20 years) but now that the NBN will get to them (unless a change of government) within the next few years, they still criticise NBNCo for not fixing everyone else’s fuck ups, now?

      OMG

  18. It is a 4.5 year plan not a 3 year plan.

    Work (e.g planning) is not scheduled to commence in Weston until September 2015, which means September 2016 until NBN services will be available.

    Most people don’t care about commencement, they care about when it will be available. For people like Weston, ACT (and I’m guessing others) that is tentatively September 2016.

    Spare a thought for those people in Adelaide who are not going to see fibre before July 2016 and were in the stage 2 maps (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1561494) published by NBNCo prior to the 2010 Federal Election. Compare the satellite image overlay (http://www.users.on.net/~jvizard/myne/nbnmdbyprot.png) of the boundaries with the areas of Adelaide that are being covered.

    Dozens of suburbs are not included.

    • Spare a thought for Australia as a whole, who without the NBN (including forcing the opposition into pathetic FTTN) would never see fibre, ever, let alone 2016…!

  19. I guess no one noticed the epic failure of NBN co on their “3 year plan”

    No wireless coverage even though it is to be built within the three years…It should be there but isn’t.. Showing the locations with the same air brushed “indicative” colours on the map.

    Disturbing the media never picked up on this… I guess no one really cares about wireless/satellite it is all three cheers for fibre….FIBRE, FIBRE, FIBRE..

    • EXACTLY so. But the narrative of fibre AND other technologies is a bit too complicated for most of the media to pick up.

      The end result is that you’ve got rural areas complaining that they get nothing for the next three years, when that simply isn’t true.

      It may be true that the major towns in some areas are not listed; those that will eventually get fibre. But everywhere outside those towns will be able to access wireless or satellite by some time in 2015. And that wireless service will be better than anything I can get now, and I’m in the city.

  20. As I read it, the purple, pink and orange pointers are fibre and wireless areas, either current, underway or underway within 12 months.

    The green pointers are areas which will begin over the next three years, but it isn’t specific as to the technology to be used.

    • The three-year green pointers refer exclusively to fibre rollouts.

      The reason is quite simple – by 2015 the rollout of wireless and next gen satellite is expected to be complete. Thus there would be no point indicating that the specific locations with the wide geographic expanses of Australia will be connected by then, because ALL of them will be, outside of the fibre zone.

      • “The reason is quite simple – by 2015 the rollout of wireless and next gen satellite is expected to be complete. Thus there would be no point indicating that the specific locations with the wide geographic expanses of Australia will be connected by then”

        That is just an excuse to somehow excuse the NBN co of what they said they would do when they didn’t.

        Some people would like to know at least some fairly valid indication of whether they are getting wireless or heaven forbid craptacular satellite…

        Then if they are in a current ADSL area and are slated for satellite, they can lobby the government so they do not get a worse connection then they already have.. And I can imagine the people who jump up and down and say NBN satellite will not be rubbish are the ones that are getting fibre.. 600ms latency is bad, always will be…

  21. Why dosn,t this NBN system go to people who only have dialup and satellite 1st and then the rest of Australia.. This Goverment only looks after them selves first where ever they live -they get it first..
    If it was me I would have started in the middle of Australia and spread out from there ,that way everybody got a chance ! Satellite cucks 8gig $89Mth ,we don,t even get 2g mobile ph coverage

    • Anthony maybe you should open your eyes and look at the rollout map. Smack bang in the middle of Australia there are 6 rollout sites! Just as you wanted.

      I hate to tell you, but if your on a dialup/satellite internet connection today, then the best the NBN will do for you is give you a replacement satellite service! You won’t be getting fibre to your house!

      Your one of the 1% users if you only have dialup/satellite internet and no mobile coverage. It means your in the middle of nowhere. If you lived overasea, you wouldn’t even get your offered your satellite package at the currently disconnected rates you complain about (that service should be about $200/month). In the middle of the USA there are people stuck on dialup as the gov won’t offset any highspeed internet access and the users won’t pay $150+ a month it would cost to provide a high speed service by private companies.

      Maybe you should think about moving locations?

    • Again, as I mentioned above a few weeks back.

      What I find most curious is… those who have been neglected for many, many years, by private companies, don’t blame them for their lot and now blame the only avenue they will ever have of progressing, the NBN :/

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