NBN Co to roll out network sites to mainland this month

THE first mainland sites to be connected to the $43 billion National Broadband Network will begin construction this month.

CONSTRUCTION of the first five mainland sites to be connected to the $43 billion national broadband network is expected to begin this month.

NBN Co is preparing to award tenders this week, reports The Australian.

Following a successful design phase for the five mainland test sites, it is understood that the construction tenders for the first release sites are now ready to be awarded.

"A lot of our technology procurement has a natural sequence about it," NBN Co head of corporate services Kevin Brown said.

"We need to make certain decisions before going on to the next tenders because of the impact of the technologies.

"The timing of those decisions is driven out of the timing of the first and second release site requirements.

"But in July we're planning on commencing construction of our first release sites."

The first five sites -- at Brunswick in Melbourne, Townsville in Queensland, Minnamurra and Kiama Downs on the NSW south coast, Willunga in South Australia and Armidale in NSW -- will each cover about 3000 premises.

They will be used as live trial areas to test network design and construction methods before the national network rollout.

Read more at The Australian.