After a series of backwards steps and watering down of promises, the re-jigging of the NBN rollout around Australia has caught another snag — there’s no plan in place to fix existing blackspots in the network.
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The Register recently quizzed NBN Co on its plan to prioritise the build-out in currently underserved areas, and the response it received was less than satisfactory.
NBN Co’s next Corporate Plan is expected to include criteria around the appropriate technology choice for a given location. But first it needs to take into consideration a whole range of factors..”
Those factors include a Department of Comms inquiry into broadband quality, the NBN Strategic Review, a review of fixed wireless and satellite quality and capacity, the renegotiation of
the Telstra deal, and the NBN cost-benefit analysis. “Due later this year”, the Corporate Plan apparently should address the problem of NBN blackspots, but there’s no firm delivery date for that document.
Anyone living in an NBN blackspot — a region or area of a suburb missed by the initial rollout in that area — should have been looking forward to a readjustment of priorities under Malcolm Turnbull’s revitalised Department of Communications, especially after he made public statements to that effect. Unfortunately, it looks like they’ll be waiting just as long as everyone else to see whether they’ll get the (proper) NBN at all.