Small businesses slam ‘patchy’ NBN rollout

THE patchy rollout of the national broadband network has left businesses on the main business street of this town fuming.

Dungog business owner Tim Norris has slammed the patchy NBN rollout in his town.

TIM Norris’ internet is so slow, he’s considering moving his small IT business into his home where he already has an NBN connection.

The frustration for Mr Norris, who lives in the small town of Dungog in the Hunter region of NSW, is that houses just a few streets away have had fibre speeds of up to 100Mbps since the February switchover, when 100 businesses and homes on the main street were excluded without explanation.

Mr Norris has slammed the “digital divide” created by the patchy NBN rollout that is affecting thousands of small businesses across the region.

“It would actually make more sense for me to move the business back to home, where I have fibre-to-the-node,” he said. A freedom-of-information request to the NBN demanding answers about how boundary lines were chosen was knocked back in April.

“I just want to know why,” he said. “As well as that, NBN said it was originally going to be fixed wireless, they’ve since changed that to fibre-to-the-node. It shows they’re able to change the mix, so why can’t they just take it a step further and offer fibre-to-the-premises?”

He said the NBN could not continue to make promises to cover whole townships, “then sweep through and leave thousands of small businesses off the grid”.

Mr Norris has rallied local politicians, including Dungog Shire councillor Tracy Norman, who described the situation as “untenable” for small businesses in regional NSW.

“I sat through a presentation to councillors by the NBN Co that indicated that the CBD of Dungog would be covered, and then they promoted the fixed wireless tower at Marshdale near Dungog as being completed ahead of schedule,” Ms Norman said.

“There was no mention at all of streets being deliberately left off the grid until 2020. I have two businesses in the commercial hub of Dowling Street in Dungog — one won’t be covered but another two blocks away will. How random can this process be?”

Nancy Knudson, Dungog’s acting mayor, said the situation was “very concerning that much of Dungog’s commercial area and the council itself will not have access to NBN until 2020”.

“It is essential that our business enterprises, in particular, are given the opportunity to be connected to the best technology,” she said.

Following inquiries on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for NBN Co revealed that the government-owned company had revised its timetable, with works now expected to commence early next year witch switch-on some time in mid-2018.

“NBN has been working with the local community to advise that some premises in the area will now be serviced by Fixed Line technology instead of via Fixed Wireless towers,” she said.

“It is a good outcome for Dungog to ensure the best broadband solution possible is provided to the community. While regrettably this will incur a delay, our design estimates confirmed today indicate that works will commence from January 2018, and locals are expected to be able to order an NBN service from mid-next year.”

The spokeswoman said the previous date of mid-2020 was provided as the default time frame while more accurate design estimates could be confirmed.

“The rollout of the NBN network is designed to provide access to fast broadband as quickly and cost effectively as possible,” she said. “Anticipated technology for an area may change due to a number of factors during design and construction phase. The address checker on the NBN website is a dynamic database updated regularly with the latest information available from the design and construction team.”

Mr Norris said although it was a good outcome, it did “not answer the actual question of why these premises were missed in the first place”. “It also proves that they are willing to change the technology,” he said. “What needs to be done to get this changed to FTTP?”

Last month, figures from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman revealed complaints about the NBN more than doubled in the second half of 2016. NBN Co blamed the surge on the rising number of households being connected to the network.

It comes after a grilling by parliament into waste at the organisation revealed NBN’s 5000 staff billed taxpayers for $12 million worth of domestic and international flights and $437,000 for high-end coffee machines.

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