About 2,500 households on the Northern Beaches will finally be able to access the best of the National Broadband Network (NBN) with the rollout of fibre to the premises (FTTP) in their area.
The Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland and Mackellar MP Dr Sophie Scamps visited Cromer last week Tuesday (12 December) to announce the latest upgrades.
The latest suburbs eligible for FTTP are Belrose, Bilgola Plateau, Frenchs Forest and Narrabeen.
There are three major NBN connection types that account for most connections: Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) and Fibre to the Node (FTTN), in order of the (generally) fastest to the slowest.
These newly eligible premises will join the 3 million Australian homes and businesses previously served by a slower, less reliable copper connection that can already access full-fibre upgrades.
The announcement was held in Cromer at one of Australia’s largest manufacturers of optical fibre cable. The Prysmian Group produces optical fibre cable for Telstra and other clients at its factories in Cromer and Liverpool.
Dr Scamps was shown one of their newest innovations is a high capacity flexible underwater cable that will be deployed under Sydney Harbour to link large data centres.
“I am so proud of Prysmian doing such great high tech manufacturing here in Mackellar,” Dr Sophie Scamps said in a press statement.
Mackellar is one of the biggest adopters of FTTP, which was one of the reasons the minister chose Mackellar for her announcement.
Some 10,000 premises in Mackellar electorate have already upgraded to FTTP services which offer faster internet speeds and greater reliability.
“We have a large creative community working in music, film and television, a large and successful tradie community and a myriad of service based industries.”
“It’s especially important for people working from home who need to upload and download large quantities of data such as video or who just need a very reliable connection,” she said.
Managing director of Qbt consulting at Frenchs Forest, Ivan Nisbet, was also at the announcement. “IT services are now like water and electricity. “They are an essential service for every business,” he said.
“IT services are now like water and electricity. “They are an essential service for every business.”
Minister Rowland agreed. “Affordable, reliable and high-speed broadband is no longer a ‘nice to have’. It is absolutely essential to work, learn, transact, engage with government services and telehealth.”
“For many years, millions of Australians have been held back by slow and unreliable broadband on the ageing copper network.
The minister said another 400,000 premises eligible to order full fibre by the end of 2025.
Manly Observer asked the NBN team to explain who already had access to the technology, and why (or why not).
“In selecting suburbs that have already been announced, we have used the following criteria:
- Where we anticipate strong demand for higher speeds;
- Where we had established construction and delivery partners with an existing workforce in place following the completion of the initial build of the nbn network;
- Where we could deploy with speed and agility;
- Where it was most cost-effective to start work immediately and in a way that the investment was most likely to spread and multiply economic activity across the nation.
- We will apply similar criteria to identify the footprint of suburbs and towns that will be included as we work to make the next 1.5 million FTTN premises eligible for upgrade.
Northern Beaches NBN: Who has what
Northern Beaches LGA suburbs which have been announced as eligible for Node to Premises upgrades
Avalon, Brookvale, Palm Beach, Bilgola Plateau, Collaroy, Belrose, French’s Forest, Killarney Heights, Dee Why, Allambie Heights, Narrabeen, North Balgowlah, North Manly
Northern Beaches LGA suburbs which have been announced as eligible for Curb to Premises upgrades
Newport, Nrth Curl Curl, Wheeler Heights, Warriewood, Terrey Hills, Queenscliff, North Narrabeen, Narraweena, Mona Vale, Manly, Ingleside, Freshwater, Elanora Heights, Duffys Forest, Curl Curl, Cromer, Collaroy Plateau, Church Point, Beacon Hill, Bayview
Visit Upgrade to nbn’s full fibre | nbn (nbnco.com.au) to check availability at your address.
 with the rollout of fibre to the premises (FTTP) in their area.){kind=link}