NBN rollout begins to 25,000 premises in the Northern Territory
The Top End is a top priority in the national broadband rollout scheme, given the economic opportunities the technology provides, according to the company rolling it out.
Construction work began on the expansion of the NBN to 25,000 premises across the Territory.
That includes properties in Berrimah, Palmerston, Nightcliff, Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek, Katherine and Alice Springs.
NBN Co spokesman Justin Jarvis said 5,000 Darwin premises already had access to the fixed wireless, but the aim was to ensure most of the Territory benefits from faster internet speeds and services.
"That's going to have a huge impact on local businesses and the economy and provide people with more entertainment options," he said.
Mr Jarvis said once the construction phase began in a region, it took up to 12 months for those premises to access the broadband.
There was no specific date set for the 25,000 premises to be using broadband, but Mr Jarvis said NBN Co was on track to meet the 2020 target where most of the Territory would be on the grid.
"There's a little bit of work to be done yet ... today's announcement nationally is to include 1.9 million households and businesses," he said.
"In the end we're aiming for around 8 million connections.
"So this is a large program and a huge amount of work has to be undertaken."
But Mr Jarvis said there were plenty more communities that would be added as time went on.
Population growth catered for
The population in the Top End is tipped to grow rapidly in the next three to five years, but NBN Co said it was equipped to handle that extra demand for broadband access.
"We are working through our new developments program on new buildings as they're built ... everybody who lives in Darwin and Palmerston will get their services switched on over time," Mr Jarvis said.
There had been concern over the past 12 months the broadband rollout in the Territory was behind the rest of Australia because of the difficulty in obtaining skilled technicians and problems with linking up to the fibre-optic cables.
Mr Jarvis said every region had its challenges, but NBN Co had been employing many sub-contractors and working with local businesses to speed up the rollout.
"We've invested significant amount in the transit network, which is our core network that underpins all of NBN services," Mr Jarvis said.
"We're working with local business and local contractors."
He also said Darwin was one of the first cities where the NBN was rolled out and it provided valuable lessons in the challenges associated with construction of the technology inside large buildings.
NBN can lift regional economies, says company
The Northern Territory Government and the Joint Select Committee into Northern Australia have spruiked better digital communications in the Territory as key to its plans to develop the north.
They identified the need for rapid construction of high-speed broadband via fibre, fixed wireless or satellite across regional and remote parts of the Territory.
Mr Jarvis said NBN Co had been working closely with the Territory Government on plans for northern development.
"We work in parallel with all that effort to create opportunities in northern Australia, and this improvement in broadband services is seen as a key driver of that economic activity," Mr Jarvis said.
In particularly, Mr Jarvis points to the opportunities the NBN will provide to places like Nhulunbuy, which was facing economic and social challenges since the closure of the Rio Tinto alumina refinery.
"This is a positive announcement for that community because it means the kinds of business activity that can be undertaken there will grow exponentially," Mr Jarvis said.
Residents in Nhulunbuy should be able to get onto the grid by late 2017.
