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NBN gains momentum with Kiama trial

Residents of Kiama Downs and Minnamurra were officially connected to high-speed broadband yesterday

High-speed broadband is now available in two NSW communities, as the Federal Government's $36 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) gains momentum amid promises of further rollouts.

Residents of Kiama Downs and Minnamurra on the NSW south coast were officially connected to high-speed broadband on Thursday by federal communications minister, Stephen Conroy, and Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Conroy labelled the customer trial a "significant milestone" in the government's national vision.

And he promised a "string of announcements" will be made in coming weeks in relation to the NBN rollout timetable and construction company contracts.

At least two multi-million dollar construction tenders are expected to be announced in August after a deal was struck last month with Australian construction company Silcar.

The contract will cover Queensland, NSW and the ACT, representing almost 40 per cent of national construction activity planned over the next two years.

More customer trials in the communities of Townsville in Queensland, and Willunga and Brunswick in South Australia would begin "shortly", Senator Conroy said.

"This is a very exciting day because it is another significant milestone in the Gillard government's vision to make affordable high-speed broadband available to every Australian, no matter where they live in Australia," he said at the Kiama launch.

The senator paid tribute to Swan who "has been a believer in the NBN from the first time I took what many have described as a completely lunatic proposal to cabinet".

Telstra, the commonwealth and the network builder, NBN Co, signed definitive agreements for the rollout of the scheme in June.

NBN Co plans to provide a fibre-optic cable network to 93 per cent of the population while the remaining seven per cent will have either fixed wireless or satellite broadband over the next decade.

Swan said the aim was to see Australia rank in the top five of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries when it comes to using online opportunities.

"We are going to be able to continue to compete with the world," he said.

So far, only ten test users are connected as part of the Kiama customer trial, which will run until September/October.

The fibre network in the area covers about 2350 premises, with residents in about 80 per cent of properties consenting to the connection of a line during construction to make them "NBN ready".

In May, Armidale in northern NSW became the first mainland site to be switched on to the NBN, which is already connected to the Tasmanian towns of Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point.

Internet retailer Internode released the first pricing plan last week, showing customers could pay up to $2280 a year for a premium service.

Conroy rejected suggestions households would have to pay high prices for high-speed broadband, saying the four major companies — Optus, Telstra, iiNet and Vodafone — had yet to release their price packages.

"I see more exciting retail competition and we all know that more retail competition will lead to lower prices," he said.

Speaking in Sydney on Friday, opposition communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, declined to say whether a coalition government would cancel NBN contracts.

"It's not a question of cancelling anything or destroying anything, digging anything up as Julia Gillard said," he said.

"The challenge is going to be to recalibrate the program, redesign the program so we can get the areas that have inadequate broadband now very fast broadband much more quickly."

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: ACT, etwork, Federal Government, iiNet, Internode, Midway, OECD, Optus, Telstra, Vodafone

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