It has finally been announced that parts of the suburbs of Stanhope Gardens, The Ponds, Kellyville Ridge and Glenwood have been put back on the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout plan.
There is good news and bad news in this announcement.
The good news is that residents in these areas are no longer completely in limbo in terms of when we they receive the NBN. The information provided by NBN Company states that construction for the Kellyville exchange, which services these suburbs in whole or in part, will commence in the first half of 2016.
But that’s still a long way off. And unlike the 2013 rollout plan which included these suburbs being provided with a fibre-to-the-premises build, this new announcement is likely to be a fibre-to-the-node build which still relies on a copper connection.
We are also still in the dark about when neighbouring suburbs with poor internet access will be put on the map. Poor (or in some cases, non-existent) internet access is one of the biggest complaints I receive from residents in some parts of Quakers Hill and Acacia Gardens.
This announcement is also likely to mean that some residents in a suburb will have access to a fibre-based NBN, but other residents will still be relying on copper — creating a 2-tier class of internet access.
In the meantime, I will continue to advocate for the best quality broadband access to be made available to all residents in Greenway, and that our area be prioritised. I have constantly been raising this issue with the Minister and in the Parliament. — Michelle Rowland, Member for Greenway