Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Stoker. I have some good news for colleagues, Mr President. Research by AlphaBeta Advisors—which, for the benefit of colleagues, is an analytics firm headed up by Andrew Charlton, former chief economic adviser to former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd—reveals that business growth in NBN-connected regions has accelerated at more than twice the annual pace of the national average and five times the pace of regions without the NBN.

Mr President, as you would be aware, the government has prioritised the NBN rollout to the most underserved areas in the country. The NBN effect in these regional and remote locations is having a significant impact. In regions connected to the NBN the annual growth in people working primarily from home increased by four per cent in 2017 versus 1.8 per cent in non-NBN connected areas. In the 2017 financial year the NBN was estimated to have generated $1.2 billion in additional GDP nationally, including $450 million in regional Australia. Once the rollout is complete, it is estimated that the network will deliver an additional $10.4 billion in GDP per year nationally, including $5.3 billion a year in regional areas. Importantly, thanks to the actions of this government, the majority of Australians are having a good experience when it comes to the NBN and the speed of their connections. In March the ACCC's Rod Sims said that speed delivery was 'better than expected' and that this goes:

… against the current wisdom that the majority of consumers and businesses are having issues with NBN speeds.

The authoritative industry publication CommsDay reported that, if the NBN customer base were a country, it would be ranked top 10 in the world for speed.