SA Election 2018: Labor promises faster, cheaper internet for Adelaide suburbs if re-elected next month

A “FISHBONE” network of internet cabling will be expanded and opened up for businesses and households to use in a $35 million election pledge by Labor.

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A “FISHBONE” network of government internet cabling will be expanded and opened up to businesses and households in a $35 million election pledge by Labor.

Premier Jay Weatherill said his government, if re-elected next month, would spend money adding to an existing 120km fibre network which runs north-south through the Adelaide city and surrounding suburbs.

An extra 160km of cabling will be added, branching east and west off that existing spine — creating a “fishbone” network, Mr Weatherill said.

The Government would own the cabling and invite internet providers to offer affordable access to business and household customers.

Innovation Minister Kyam Maher said the expansion would begin late this year and take two to three years, but access would be opened to the existing government cabling “as soon as possible”.

Mr Maher said the project would provide faster, cheaper internet to “hundreds of thousands of homes” — but could not say exactly how many or in what specific areas.

Internet providers would pay the Government a “modest charge” to access the cabling to cover maintenance costs, which were expected to be in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” a year, he said.

Mr Weatherill said the project was necessary because the National Broadband Network was not delivering fast, reliable or cheap enough internet access for South Australians.

Labor would set up a new government Department of Digital Innovation to manage the expansion and “attract new businesses to the state that rely on ultra-fast internet”, Mr Weatherill said.

It would also develop a digital inclusion plan “to narrow the digital divide in South Australia, ensuring all members of our community can fully participate economically and socially”, he said.

The SA Council of Social Service has praised the announcement, describing it as “good news for those people struggling with internet access and costs”.

SACOSS senior policy officer Greg Ogle said South Australia lags behind Australia “with some 17 per cent of households not accessing the internet — above the national average of 15 per cent”.

“The announcement of the expansion of the State Government’s fibre network in Adelaide is welcome, but we also need to pay attention to regional areas where 22 per cent of households are not accessing the internet at home at all, including access via mobile phones,” Dr Ogle said.