Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, the NBN network was switched on for more than 4,100 premises in Leichhardt, including 900 fibre-to-the node premises in Cooktown town centre; 340 fixed wireless premises around Kuranda and Kowrowa, with construction of the fibre to the node in Kuranda currently underway; and 2,900 fibre-to-the-node premises in the northern beaches of Cairns. This follows on from 2,400 fibre-to-the-node premises coming online in Edge Hill late last month, and it means that residents and businesses can start ordering the NBN from retail service providers from this week.

The rollout in Leichhardt is gathering pace thanks to NBN's more straightforward network construction and the company's strong relationship with local contractors. It is important that customers buy a plan that is suitable for their needs. Many of the complaints that are coming through to my office are because people are buying the cheapest and the slowest package that is available and expecting it to perform.

Fibre to the node provides average wholesale broadband speeds of around 70 megabits per second, while in outlying areas fixed wireless offers wholesale download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second. I urge people to do their research to make sure their access to the NBN is fast and reliable, so that households and small businesses can be more productive and better connected for years to come.