Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Materiel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, upon notice, on 15 August 2012:

With reference to the rollout for the National Broadband Network (NBN) in the Australian Capital Territory:

(1) Is the rollout on schedule; is not: (a) how long are the delays, and (b) what are the reasons for the delays, detailed separately for each suburb.

(2) How many: (a) private residences; and (b) registered businesses, have an active NBN connection.

(3) What is the average data speed to date.

(4) What NBN packages are available for: (a) private residences; and (b) small businesses, detailed separately including the: (i) data allowance, (ii) data speed, and (iii) costs.

(5) How many: (a) individuals; and (b) small businesses, have signed up to NBN training.

(6) Is any part or suburb of the Australian Capital Territory not scheduled for the NBN rollout; if so, which parts or suburbs.

(7) What was the total forecast funding for the NBN in the Australian Capital Territory in the: (a) December 2010; and (b) August 2012, corporate plans.

(8) How much has the Australian Capital Territory NBN rollout cost to date.

(9) Is any additional funding allocation anticipated.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) As NBN Co recently announced publicly, a number of factors have contributed to delays in Gungahlin including the additional nine months it took to finalise the Definitive Agreements between Telstra and NBN Co, along with initial challenges in the company's planning systems integration. However, NBN Co is still aiming to get areas of Gungahlin connected by the end of the year. To achieve this, NBN Co has reprioritised construction plans to connect central Gungahlin (9CRC-03) and parts of Palmerston (9CRC-04) first. This results in moving dates out for other fibre serving area modules in the area.

(2) As of 17 September 2012, there were 99 active services in ACT greenfields sites, covering Macgregor and Watson. As of 17 September 2012, there were 14 active Interim Satellite Services in the ACT. Data is not available on the breakdown of private residences and registered businesses.

(3) This calculation has not been carried out specifically for the ACT. However, as of May this year NBN Co's analysis showed that overall 38 per cent of active services on the fibre network have been on the fastest speed tier, which is 100/40 megabits per second. In April, this trend was even stronger, with almost 50 per cent of new active services being on the highest speed tier. General information about speeds tiers is available in the NBN Co 2012-15 Corporate Plan on page 64.

(4) This varies from retail service provider (RSP) to RSP. This information is available on individual RSP websites. General information about pricing is available in the NBN Co 2012-15 Corporate Plan on pages 58-59.

(5) The ACT Government has been successful in applying for grant funding to provide both Digital Enterprise, in partnership with the ACT Business Council, and Digital Hub training services in the Australian Capital Territory. The delivery of training to individuals and small business by the ACT Government is still in the design phase and services are expected to commence within the next few months for Digital Enterprise and early 2013 for the Digital Hub.

(6) No. 100 per cent of Australian premises will have access to the NBN.

(7) Both Corporate Plans are available on the NBN Co website at www.nbnco.com.au.

(8) The rollout is not readily broken down by state or territory as much of the infrastructure crosses borders and is shared between states; for example the transit network and satellite services. Estimated network rollout costs across the country and across technologies are available in the NBN Co 2012-15 Corporate Plan on page 44.

(9) Anticipated funding is in the NBN Co 2012-15 Corporate Plan which is available on the NBN Co website at www.nbnco.com.au.