Adelaide Hills residents snubbed by NBN Co say they deserve fast internet like everyone else
Hills residents will seek parliamentary action over a “broken promise” by NBN Co, which says it will connect the town to satellite technology – reserved for remote communities – instead of wireless internet.
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Adelaide Hills residents will be sent back to the technological dark ages with hundreds of residents snubbed by NBN Co.
Almost 500 properties on the outskirts of Mylor will have to forgo NBN’s fixed wireless connection in favour of Sky Muster – a satellite service generally reserved for remote and hard-to-reach areas.
It will put customers on par with communities in outback Australia, despite Mylor being located just a half-hour drive from metro Adelaide, which will have full NBN connection by June 30.
The move has been labelled a “callous commercial decision” by Member for Mayo Rebekah Sharkie, who has written to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to review the decision.
“This decision seeks to take the cheapest and easiest way to fix an issue for 495 affected premises that NBN Co has had two years to resolve in terms of not only finding but actually securing an appropriate site for their promised wireless tower,” Ms Sharkie said.
“Our community equates satellite NBN with the technology for remote Australia, not the peri-urban fringe of a major capital city.
“NBN Co needs to reconsider its technology decisions.”
In November 2019, a private landholder pulled out of an arrangement with NBN Co to build a tower on their property, with the company vowing to find another solution for the community.
“They have decided to try and extend the fixed wireless connections for those people living on the fringes of the towers located at Echunga North, Littlehampton, Scott Creek and Cherry Gardens, but that is only likely to assist 30 properties, 50 at most,” Ms Sharkie said.
Gumeracha local Susanne Koen is among a group of locals who have vowed to fight NBN Co on the issue.
The mother of three has compiled a parliamentary petition to overturn the decision, which she hopes to table by the end of the month.
The petition claims residents had been promised high-speed internet since 2017, but instead would receive a service that is known for its “high latency, lower speeds, capped data, less choice in speed tiers and higher costs”.
Residents also worry that Sky Muster could reduce property prices in the area.
“The issue really is two things; a broken promise that we would get better technology and the fact that we will get a lesser service than everyone else,” Ms Koen said.
“I know that NBN Co argues that Sky Muster is perfectly suitable, but the truth is that service is intended for remote areas, such as the outback, offshore and places that are hard to reach.
“It wasn’t initially intended for metropolitan regions and my feeling is, now that NBN has reached near the end of its rollout phase, those areas that have not been connected yet are being put on Sky Muster because that’s the easiest solution.
“But they forget that our taxes go to pay for a high-speed internet across the country, so why do we not get the same deal?”
Ms Koen said failure to connect properties to wireless internet could result in residents giving NBN the snub for good.
“(The community) is already discussing what alternatives we might have and one of the things I’ve been considering is, as there are other providers, to invite them to Mylor to give a presentation to see if they could meet our needs,” she said.
Despite growing community concern, head of NBN Local SA/NT Tim Saul has defended the company’s decision to connect property owners to the Sky Muster.
He said the NBN was committed to offering high-speed broadband, with a minimum download speed of 25mbps, to all homes and businesses in the Adelaide Hills.
However, he admits this will not include the complete roll out of wireless technology.
“There are no plans in place to move residents allocated Sky Muster within Mylor to other technologies, however, we will continuously review the performance of the network as well continue to monitor new and emerging technologies,” he said.
“We will reinvest in the network as and when it is needed.”