National Broadband Network is essential infrastructure

The Federal Government’s National Broadband Network will improve access to high speed internet for thousands of households in Chifley, currently experiencing service difficulties.

Speaking on the issue this week in Parliament, Federal Member for Chifley, Ed Husic said that many residents were currently being serviced by inferior technology that was not able to adequately meet the needs of the community.

He told the Parliament of the experience of one cafe owner in Woodcroft, who was experiencing a lack of broadband access which was affecting his business. The owner was unable to install web cameras at Woodcroft due to the lack of ADSL access, quite unlike his other 2 cafes.

Mr Husic said, “This problem relates to Woodcroft’s distance from the Blacktown Exchange. In Woodcroft people are basically reliant on RIM technology to get access to ADSL. That technology is overwhelmed by the number of customers present. People have to wait for customers to leave to get access.”

“This problem did not arise overnight; it has built up over time. At its heart, this problem reflects a regulatory stalemate that has existed for years. Once Telstra was sold off by the coalition, Telstra’s priority was about keeping shareholders happy by giving them great returns.”

Mr Husic accused the Liberal Party of trying to delay the introduction of the National Broadband Network by referring the Bill to others for review and cost/benefit analysis.

“I have to say I give the Coalition points for being consistent. They have been unable to solve the problem themselves.They delayed getting an answer for people and now they are attempting to delay the government with the introduction of a variety of measures to frustrate the implementation and the rollout of the NBN.”

Updated: 2010-12-11 — 03:26:32