Goulburn in line for NBN

The announcement, made last Wednesday, will bring a new era of technology to the Goulburn Mulwaree and Yass Valley Council areas, among 11 others across the state.

“I welcome news this week of a further rollout of the NBN in Hume,” Mr Taylor said last week.

“NBNCo will be working with local councils at Goulburn and Yass on the planning of new fixed wireless towers in the broader Goulburn area, outside the city and in smaller village locations… and proposed new towers around the rural areas outside of the township of Yass.

“This is great news for residents of smaller communities who are struggling to secure reliable internet…” “This is at early planning stage, so locations and timeframes are not confirmed.

“What I can say is this first round of towers will be built in less than 18 months, and locations will be outside the main town centres.”

The fixed network will utilise 4G technology to deliver speeds of up to 25 megabits per second.

NBNCo spokesperson Tony Gibbs said the connection will improve quality of life for regional users across a variety of areas – including health, education and entertainment.

“Fast broadband helps give residents access to e-health services, distance education and entertainment on demand and we have seen examples of business demonstrating an increase in productivity, reduction of costs and access new markets,” he said.

WHILE the news is welcome, Technical Director of Goulburn Free Wifi Alex Ferrara has his concerns.

“The NBN is the single most important communications infrastructure project that has ever been attempted in this country, and it is critically important to the competitiveness of commerce and industry,” Mr Ferrara said.

“In that scope, I welcome the announcement that Goulburn will be provisioned for NBN access in the next 18 months, but I do have my concerns.”

“(In January) NBNCo were making predictions of the NBN in the Goulburn area with a timeframe of roughly 18 months.

“Here we are, nine months on, and we have yet another prediction of 18 months.

“I would like to know if the timeframe that Angus Taylor is stating refers to when the network will start being switched on, or when it will be completed and available for everyone in Goulburn.”

Mr Ferrara’s second concern was the switch from a ‘Fibre to Premises’ plan to the ‘Fixed Wireless’ initiative.

“Since the current Government came into power, the NBN plan has changed, and Goulburn is now in the “Fixed wireless” footprint. This is a wireless technology that is very similar to data connections over a 4G mobile phone,” he explained.

“The big difference is that it is a fixed service and not mobile, so there is a wireless termination unit installed at each premises, connected to an antenna that is pointed directly to an NBN fixed wireless tower.

“This has the advantage that you only need to run a fibre optic cable to the tower, and then each premises needs minimal labour to connect.

“There are also several disadvantages to fixed wireless, and like any wireless technology; latency, interference and contention.”