EXCUSES FOR NBN DELAYS
GOLD Coast suburbs are still staring at delays of months or even years with the NBN rollout that is supposed to deliver superfast internet.
Parts of Burleigh Heads are three years behind schedule, pockets of Helensvale will not be connected until January 2019 at the earliest, and a number of Southport businesses have waited more than two years. Advancetown, Beechmont and Gilston do not even have planned installation dates. The reason? NBN blames a limited workforce, sales pause and new technology.
GOLD Coast suburbs are staring at delays of months or even years with the NBN rollout that is supposed to deliver super-fast internet – and NBN blames a limited workforce, a sales pause and new technology.
Burleigh Heads was scheduled to be connected to the network in the second half of 2016, but after two years some areas are connected while the build in other areas is delayed until the second half of next year.
That will be a three-year wait for some properties.
In parts of Helensvale, residents were told the NBN rollout would be at their homes by December 2017, but they will now not receive it until January 2019 at the earliest.
The news is not any better for businesses, with a number of Southport enterprises waiting for NBN for more than two years.
Other suburbs including Advancetown, Beechmont and Gilston do not even have planned installation dates.
An NBN Co spokeswoman said there were three reasons installation of the NBN was delayed in the region, including a Hybrid Fibre CoAxial (HFC) sales pause lasting about six months, new technology to be used here and a limited number of tradies installing the build.
“The workforce building the NBN network is a finite resource. While we’d love to build all areas in tandem, this is not a reality,” she said.
“Our goal is to ensure that all Australians, including those on the Gold Coast, have access to fast and reliable broadband as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
New technology related to Fibre to the Kerb (FTTC) would also be rolled out on the Gold Coast, with an extra 33,000 homes in the area included in this.
The spokeswoman said premises receiving the new technology would have had their rollout times resched- uled because it would take the technology closer to the premises – generally equalling faster internet speeds. But works to complete this were more labour intensive.
“The complexity that is introduced here is that more civil works are required as a result, some known at design phase, others uncovered during the build phase,” the spokeswoman said.
“It is for unforeseen reasons such as this that projects may extend beyond our estimated completion time.”
NBN paused the sale of HFC to retailers to stamp out some issues with prior installations. Sales recommenced this month.
Burleigh Space owners Steven Thomas and Jerrell Niu installed a dish on their roof which costs them $400 a month because they couldn’t connect to the NBN.
“About six months ago they put NBN wires in the roof but then they just disappeared and we still can’t connect,” Mr Thomas said.
“It is frustrating because speed and reliability is crucial because we have people video conferencing and uploading large files.”
The Bulletin’s Golden Age survey found 81 per cent of respondents thought more needed to be done about internet speeds on the Gold Coast, with just 27 per cent connected to NBN.
According to figures provided to the Bulletin by the NBN Co, more than 40 per cent of homes have a connection available to them, making that 107,000 homes ready to connect.
An NBN spokesman said not all people who had NBN available to them had yet taken up the connection.
Fifty-five per cent of people responding to the survey said their current internet speed was negatively affecting business and their ability to browse the web and stream videos.
Residents were also frustrated with how NBN was being rolled out, with neighbours having vastly different installation dates. Some streets would be connected years ahead of others nearby.
An NBN Co spokesman said the reason why one street may have NBN while its neighbouring street might not was down to how many premises could be connected at once.
“NBN connects an area when around 90 per cent of the premises are able to connect to the network,” she said.
“For those premises that were to be connected over the HFC network like Mermaid Waters, the rollout was completed on schedule, however the neighbouring suburb of Broadbeach Waters is made up of a combination of HFC – those premises are connected – and our latest technology FTTC.”
NBN public affairs manager Tony Brown has said the Gold Coast is one of the biggest challenges for NBN installation across Australia, mainly due to the number of hotels and apartment complexes.
“Those apartment complexes … we have to get the fibre in there without disturbing anything,” he said.
“A five-star hotel isn’t going to thank us if we come in there and butcher their driveway. We have to plan around that.”
NBN maintains it is on track to connect all homes by 2020.