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This article is more than 1 year old

NBN satellite rollout suspended in Tasmania for election

Locals lobby for fixed-line broadband

West coast residents of Tasmania, first promised fibre connection to the NBN only to have t replaced by satellite, have been told the network rollout in their electorate will go on hold until after the election.

nbnTM has told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) The World Today radio program that it's holding off in the region because the Liberal Party and the ALP have “competing policies” about how to deliver the project.

The ALP has promised AU$30 million to the region to get users connected, something criticised by communications minister Mitch Fifield because users can get fibre by dipping into their own pockets under the NBN's “fibre choice” program.

The ALP commitment seems to relate to getting an NBN fibre backbone following the railway to Queenstown, Rosebery, Strahan and Zeehan. If that's the case, nbnTM would still need to be persuaded to deploy nodes in the towns.

The argument is taking place in the Tasmanian electorate of Braddon, which is held by the government at the moment with a margin of 2.6 per cent (by the votes in the 2013 election).

Tasmania suffered heavy congestion earlier this year, when repairs to its Basslink electricity cable demanded the fibre cable of the same name be cut. This reduced the available submarine capacity to only services offered by Telstra. ®

 

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