NBN delays frustrate residents with no time frame for when it will roll-out in suburbs

MOST residents of the Blacktown region will have to wait at least another year for high-speed internet to be switched on in their suburb.

Construction on the NBN will start in some some suburbs next year. .

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MOST residents of the Blacktown region will have to wait at least another year for high-speed internet to be switched on in their suburb.

The NBN’s rollout map shows Blacktown, Arndell Park, Woodcroft, Huntingwood and parts of Seven Hills, Lalor Park and Kings Langley have access to the network.

It is an area of connectivity surrounded by a sea of suburbs where the rollout of the NBN has not started.

A three-year construction schedule shows work on the NBN will start in some parts of Seven Hills, Lalor Park and Kings Langley from next year.

Oppositon communications minister and Greenway MP Michelle Rowland

Construction will begin in Acacia Gardens, Kings Park, Parklea and Stanhope Gardens in the first half of 2017.

A NBN Co spokeswoman said it would take about six months from the start of construction for the NBN to be switched on.

She said Blacktown was one of the first areas in the country to receive the NBN, with about 30,000 homes and businesses now able to connect to the network.

Greenway federal Labor MP and Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said the NBN was the biggest source of complaints to her office.

“It’s easily one to two a day. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s pretty consistent,” she said.

“The complaints are mostly about broadband accessibility. “That includes, ‘When is broadband coming to my suburb?’ or ‘I’ve signed up to a plan and I’m not getting the speeds that were advertised’.

“When I was doorknocking during the election campaign it was one of the issues people kept raising with me.”

A former telco lawyer, Ms Rowland said access to high-speed broadband impacted on quality of life and the ability to move into higher income brackets.

“There is a correlation between productivity and economic success and access to broadband,” she said.

“Google has shown the biggest single driver in an economy is ICT (information and communication technologies) and access to high-speed broadband.”