nbn nearly complete in rural areas

The nbn rollout is nearing full completion across regional Australia, with nearly all premises outside of urban areas now in the design and construction stages, nbn co has announced.

Currently, 94% of all premises outside of major urban areas can either order a service or have new construction underway.

Including premises in the design stage increases this percentage to 99.92%, but this excludes some difficult-to-reach premises such as remote islands and complex rural sites.

Meanwhile, one in three Australian homes and businesses, representing more than 4 million premises, are now connected to nbn services, out of a total of 6.8 million premises now able to connect.

Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield said more than 100,000 premises are being connected every month and nbn co is on the way to completing the build by its 2020 goal date.

Prioritising rural and regional areas is also helping to close the digital divide, with a report commissioned by nbn co and conducted by data analytics finding that Australia is fast rising up the list of OECD countries in terms of equality of internet speed and access.

Australia’s position in this measure has increased from 29th out of 35 member countries in 2012 to 17th today, and is expected to move into the top 10 by 2021.

“With our aim to help bridge the digital divide and see that Australians, regardless of location, have access to fast broadband, we are proud today to announce that the rollout of the nbn access network to regional Australia is on the home stretch,” nbn co CEO Bill Morrow said.

“We have seen a massive improvement in regional internet access, with our wholesale broadband services offering more competition, faster speeds and even giving some Australians internet access for the first time.”

Image courtesy nbn co.

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