Fibre to the Node street cabinet
Three quarters of the region is scheduled to receive the compromised NBN broadband infrastructure and only one quarter, the world class full fibre infrastructure, following an announcement of the rollout by Communications Minister Mr Malcolm Turnbull.
Central Coast Broadband Alliance convenor Mr Dave Abrahams said the announcement came as a surprise, as trials on fibre to the street node had only just started and only five people had been included. “Not nearly enough to make an informed decision,” said Mr Abrahams. He said it would create a “real digital divide”. “In December last year, 220 people, businesses and organisations wrote a constructive proposal to the Communications Minister Mr Turnbull, asking him to maintain the rollout of the full fibre NBN to the premises solution that had already started. “It was not a radical proposal, we simply asked for the existing hard fought plans to be honoured. “Sadly we never received a reply. “On Friday (August 22) we collectively received our reply. “In a media announcement, Mr Turnbull decided to drop the region’s original NBN fibre plans and instead replace the remaining fibre optic rollout with a watered down fibre to the street node solution. “This announcement effectively means a divestment of approximately $200 million to the region and more sadly divides the region into haves and have nots. “I’m somewhat surprised that there has been no comment from the leaders of the councils or other regional authorities despite the fact that the Central Coast will lose a very significant economic and social advantage and soon will be dotted with hundreds of ugly street furniture installations. “To me this is more city centric policy, where Sydney based managers write off the Central Coast as a cheap region worthy of second rate infrastructure investments. “This has happened in the past with roads, transport and education, and is now just about to happen in telecommunications. “Very disappointing,” said Mr Abrahams. Labor candidate for Terrigal Mr Jeff Sundstrom said he was also disappointed with the decision to increase the digital divide on the Central Coast. “There are already areas on the Coast that have the former Labor Governments superfast fibre broadband right to their doorstep, but the announcement shows that the rest of the Coast will be left behind with the considerably slower Malcolm Turnbull plan,” said Mr Sundstrom. “It’s disappointing that the Peninsula, Kincumber, and Saratoga are being lined up as guinea pigs to test the Liberal’s copper-plus broadband. “So far we have seen two trials announced to look at the Coalitions new FTTN broadband in Umina. “One conducted in June was a trial of one business connection, right next to the node. “Today (August 25) we saw a trial with fi ve houses connected close to a node. “These are pathetic excuses for trials, and don’t reveal what the reality will be when hundreds of homes are eventually connected to these boxes 24/7. “Before any real evidence is collected from the trials, the Liberal Government has announced they will expand their node trial with the construction of another 160 refrigerator-like boxes across the Peninsula, Killcare, and into Kincumber. “The community still doesn’t know how much these boxes cost, or how long they will last, especially as many of them have already been vandalised. “Not only do we not know the durability of these nodes, but they are being connected to the crumbling copper network which will cost billions to maintain and already creates black spots when it rains,” Mr Sundstrom said. Suburbs to be affected include Erina, Terrigal, Kariong and Somersby.
Media release,
26 Aug 2014
Dave Abrahams, Central
Coast Broadband Alliance
Media release,
25 Aug 2014
Jeff Sundstrom, Labor
candidate for Terrigal