Ramin Communications
Corporate Governance of ICT

Australia’s first NBN opens in Tasmania – offers blistering speeds 12 August 2010

NBN Tasmania Limited
ACN 138 338 271
Level 11, 100 Arthur Street
NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060

Media Release

Australia’s first NBN opens in Tasmania – offers blistering speeds 12 August 2010

NBN Tasmania today celebrated the official launch of Australia’s first national broadband network at a community event in Midway Point, northeast of Hobart.

Midway Point is one of three communities in Tasmania where homeowners and businesses can now order superfast fibre-to-the-home broadband services via one of a growing number of participating retail service providers (RSPs) – currently including iiNet, Primus and Internode. Designed to deliver download speeds of up to 100Mbps*, the network is also operating in Smithton in the northwest and Scottsdale in the northeast as part of the NBN Tasmania stage one rollout.

The launch featured demonstrations of health, education and business applications of the internet, and testimonials from some of the pioneer users who helped test the network. Executive Chairman of NBN Tasmania, Doug Campbell said: “Today marks a great milestone for the NBN, the people of Tasmania and the telecommunications industry in this country. “The rollout of the network is a significant achievement that represents the collective efforts of many people, including our agents Aurora Energy, contractors OptiComm, John Holland, BSA, and Techlife, supplier Corning, the Tasmanian Government, local government, business and community groups, our shareholder, the retail service providers and NBN Tasmania’s own staff. “In the pre-launch activity we connected more than 70 customers, and we sincerely thank them for their valuable feedback as we tested the network. We look forward to continuing to connect services, based on the orders of RSPs, as they are received over coming months,” Mr Campbell said.

More than 200 kilometres of optic fibre have been laid as part of this stage of the rollout, and over 200 people were employed during the project. Half of the home-owners/occupiers in the three towns consented to a fibre connection during the rollout to make them “NBN-ready”.

Media inquiries: Rhonda Griffin 0428 134401

Please find below a link to access broadcast-quality footage. Four files are included:
1. Animation - the launch animation sequence;
2. Customers – vox pops of NBN “pioneer” customer experiences;
3. NBN – Doug Campbell, Executive Chairman of NBN Tas and construction images; and
4. RSPs – interviews of the retail service providers – Simon Hackett CEO Internode, Ravi Bhatia CEO Primus, Michael Malone CEO iiNet.

http://mail.manidisroberts.com.au:8000/Login
username: nbnmedia
password: nbnguest

*The speeds actually experienced by end-users will depend on a number of factors, such as the service package they choose from the retail service provider, their equipment and their in-premises connections.

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Last update 12 August 2010