NBN Co names 28 new fibre locations

NBN Co has laid out its network construction plans for the next year, planning fibre rollouts to 28 new cities and towns across Australia.

The long-awaited forecast was released at a launch event fronted by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Wollongong, south of Sydney.

Wollongong will see construction crews deploy fibre to 5600 homes and businesses from July next year. Nearby Dapto will see the crews a month later.

The first new sites to see fibre crews are in Sydney's inner west, west and north-west.

Construction has already begun to connect 2600 premises in Richmond. Another 13,200 premises in the area are expected to be covered sometime in the next year.

Penrith will get 17,800 connections (with construction starting sometime after November this year), followed by Lidcombe (8,800, December 2011), Blacktown (11,200, January 2012) and Strathfield/Homebush (2900 homes, June 2012).

The NSW central coast receives some attention in the latest round of work. Crews will enter Gosford as early as April 2012 and also have Long Jetty - a suburb near beachside The Entrance - in their sights.

In Victoria, the NBN will now enter central Ballarat as soon as April 2012. Crews will then go to Tullamarine, Melton and Melbourne City in consecutive months.

Work in South Australia is in two clusters - February/March and July/August of 2012. New locations named are Stirling, Strathalbyn, Port Elliot, Yankalilla, Aldinga Beach and Port Augusta.

In Western Australia, new work is clustered around April and May of 2012. Meadow Springs, Pinjarra and South Perth are among the new locations named.

Other new locations named are Darwin (NT), Nudgee (QLD) and Launceston (TAS).

12-Month NBN Rollout Plan

The start dates did not show exactly when crews would arrive. Rather, NBN Co said the "commencement date marks the handover of the desktop design to the construction contractor for final design and construction".

NBN Co said it would update the 12-month construction schedule on a rolling, quarterly basis.

Some first and second release sites were named to receive extra fibre connections. The wholesaler released detailed maps for first and second release sites, as well as some Tasmanian fibre rollout areas this morning.

NBN Co also outlined its plans for the first stage rollout of the transit backhaul network that will connect fibre access nodes to points of interconnect.

"In this first stage NBN Co is planning to construct 149 transit links connecting 155 fibre access nodes, of which 30 are also points of interconnect," NBN Co said.

"The company is nearing completion of a contract to build transit services over the next 12 months."