Find Out If Your Suburb Is Included In The NBN’s Three-Year Roll Out Plan

With the news of Blacktown’s addition to the NBN this morning, one can’t help but wonder when their suburb will find itself plugged into the high-speed fibre network (if it continues as planned). Somehow hearing the country’s collective thoughts, the office of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy today released its roll out plan from now until 2016.

UPDATE: You can now check out and search the newly-added suburbs on a map over at Lifehacker.

The press release, which can be found on the MBCDE website, declares that by June 30, 2016, 4.8 million homes and businesses will either be hooked up to the NBN, or in the process of being connected.

Sandwiched between statements criticising the Coalition’s recently announced strategy for Australia’s broadband future, the announcement provides the following figures, which paint a picture of connectivity state by state (and territory):

An additional 406,100 premises in New South Wales, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 1,416,

An additional 303,000 premises in Victoria, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 994,600

An additional 255,700 premises in Queensland, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 934,300

An additional 181,500 premises in Western Australia, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 610,700

An additional 117,700 premises in South Australia, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 445,000

An additional 45,000 premises in the Australian Capital Territory, bringing the total number of premises with construction commenced or complete to more than 180,300

In the Northern Territory, the rollout of the NBN will be complete for more than 65,400 premises by the end of 2015.

In Tasmania, the rollout of the NBN will be complete for more than 208,400 homes and businesses by the end of 2015.

These numbers, however, aren’t as interesting as the massive list of suburbs attached to the release. The list covers the locations that will be connected to the NBN, or in the process of being connected, by June 2016.

“Our internet needs are growing and we simply can’t rely on the ageing copper network that was designed for telephones, not high-speed broadband,” it quotes Senator Stephen Conroy as saying. “By the time today’s Year 7 students finish high school, their household’s internet needs will have increased six-fold — we need the NBN to meet our needs now and into the future”.

According to Senator Conroy, the current strategy put forward by the Coalition would have people “in the regions forced to pay more for their broadband than those in the city”.

On the other hand, “everyone will be connected at no cost” under Labor’s plan.

[Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy]
[ABC]

Image: Robert / Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.