News, Telecommunications - Monday, January 23, 2012 13:56 - 29 Comments

Victorian Govt still disappointed in NBN

news The Coalition-led Victorian State Government has again sharply criticised the Labor Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project for not adequately meeting the needs of residents of the state.

In a submission to the Federal Government’s Regional Telecommunications Review this week (PDF) and associated statement by Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips, Victoria said it agreed with Federal Labor that ubiquitous high-quality broadband and the development of the digital economy had the potential to drive important productivity gains and innovation across the economy, as well as boosting health and education outcomes. Like the Federal Government, the state said, it had established programs to support broadband infrastructure development and the uptake and effective use of high-speed broadband.

However, the state added, it was ‘disappointing’ that the early stage rollouts revealed by the National Broadband Network Company so had had not prioritised the regions in Victoria which had “the greatest unmet demand for broadband”. “The Victorian Government is concerned that disparities between regional and metropolitan Victoria may persist during this next phase of broadband development,” the state wrote in its submission, “and could potentially magnify the disadvantages of regional communities as their metropolitan counterparts enjoy accelerated benefits of broadband as the NBN is rolled out.”

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