NBN Co Blog

So, you've been notified that construction on the NBN is happening in your area.

This means you are in the orange! That is, your area on the NBN Co rollout maps is coloured orange, indicating construction of the National Broadband Network has commenced.

But you haven't seen any activity in your street.  

So what does "construction commenced" actually mean?

The National Broadband Network has been switched on in Australia's largest city.

Superfast broadband now passes 1300 premises in Blacktown in Sydney's West with another 9300 homes and businesses set to be passed over the next few months. The Sydney switch-on was marked at a ceremony at the Max Webber Library in Blacktown over the weekend which included the first live NBN-enabled children's book reading session with popular Australian children's writer, the international bestselling author Andy Griffiths.

"It's a whole new way to reach readers and stimulate young minds," said Griffiths, who read to the children and answered their questions from Melbourne over video via the NBN. "Better broadband is essential for Australia if we're to keep pace with the rest of the world."

Howlong, Murrurundi, Rainbow Beach and Rollingstone; Tumby Bay, Naracoorte, Lang Lang and Tallangatta; Dunsborough, Ellenbrook - these are just a handful of the 190 cities, towns and suburbs NBN Co has added to its construction timetable.

All up, NBN Co has added 1.35 million homes and business to its rollout footprint as part of its yearly update of its three-year construction timetable. The company is also expanding coverage of the National Broadband Network in existing areas.

This means there will be 4.85 million premises where construction will have commenced or where an NBN service can be ordered by June 2016.

NBN Co has laid the first local fibre optic cable in metropolitan Adelaide as part of the widespread rollout of the National Broadband Network in South Australia.

And super-fast broadband is also a step closer in Western Australia after NBN Co installed the first local fibre optic cable in Mandurah.

In Adelaide, distribution fibre linking the Prospect exchange to the local area was installed on the corner of Ballville Street and Prospect Terrace.

"This fibre haul marks an important step in the rollout of the NBN in Adelaide," NBN Co spokesperson Tony Gibbs said. "The construction shows work is underway to build the network, which will provide super-fast broadband to parts of Adelaide throughout 2014."

Design and construction work has already commenced on rolling out the NBN to around 15,000 homes and businesses in Prospect. NBN Co is aiming to finish the first stages of construction in Prospect by the end of the year, and homes and businesses are expected to be able to connect to services over the NBN soon after.

Residents and businesses in parts of Darwin's outskirts will now have access to fast broadband after NBN Co announced it has finished the rollout of fixed wireless in the Northern Territory.

Fixed wireless is now live in parts of Berry Springs, Darwin River, Fly Creek North, Lambells Lagoon, Livingstone South, Noonamah East, Southport and Wagait Beach.

NBN's fixed wireless network is designed to offer wholesale speeds of up to 12Mbps for downloads and 1Mbps for uploads to service providers, with plans to increase these speeds to 25Mbps for downloads and 5Mbps for uploads from June 2013.