NBN rollout ‘on track’ for 2020 delivery

THE company leading the NBN rollout says it is on track to complete building the National Broadband Network by 2020.

Just a day after a shock report revealed the Gold Coast sat below the national average for a digital hub, the infrastructure’s boss confirmed it was “on track” for delivery within four years.

NBN co-chief executive Bill Morrow said the company’s targets for 2015-16 had been exceeded.

“We have bold targets to deliver one of the most complex construction projects in our country’s history to ensure no Australian is left behind,” he said. “We are on track to make fast broadband available to everyone in 2020.

“Data consumption is expected to grow at 30 per cent each year, with millions of Australians making the most of their access to fast broadband.”

Some of the Coast is to be connected from late this year, with the rest of the city having to wait until 2019.

Despite calls from business leaders, including the Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce, properties in pockets of suburbs such as Varsity Lakes and Labrador cannot connect at all due to a lack of available ports on exchanges.

In the biennial Australian Digital Index, the Gold Coast was listed below Wollongong, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.