NBN Co, the company established to design, build and operate the national broadband network, today announced 19 locations for the next stage of its rollout on the mainland. These second release sites comprise 14 new locations and five sites adjacent to existing first release sites.

The new sites are:

Victoria - Bacchus Marsh, South Morang (Melbourne);
Queensland - Brisbane (inner north), Springfield Lakes, Toowoomba;
NSW - Riverstone (western Sydney), Coffs Harbour;
South Australia - Modbury, Prospect;
Western Australia - Victoria Park (Perth), Geraldton, Mandurah;
Northern Territory - Casuarina; and
ACT - Gungahlin

The five existing locations getting an additional, adjacent rollout site are Minnamurra/Kiama Downs (Kiama) and Armidale in NSW, Townsville Qld, Brunswick in Melbourne, and Willunga in South Australia. As the whole township of Willunga is already part of the rollout, the nearby area of Seaford/McLaren Vale will be the adjacent site.

Initially each site will see the network rolled out past approximately 3000 premises, but the exact area to be covered will be determined after further discussion with local authorities to ensure local considerations are factored into the final decision.

NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley said: "We have selected these second sites to build upon the work we are doing in the first release sites and to progress the rollout in areas of future network growth."

"These sites have been selected based on a range of criteria including engineering and construction requirements, network design and the level of existing broadband infrastructure. The engagement of local government and the receptiveness of communities to broadband initiatives were also factors taken into consideration," Mr Quigley said.

The NBN Co network design is based on a series of building block or modules. The basic operational module covers approximately 3000 premises. These modules are replicated into a fibre serving area or FSA. FSAs are in turn linked by fibre, or aggregated, to feed into points of interconnect where the network traffic is handed over to the Retail Service Providers. The 14 new locations signify the commencement of the rollout to 14 new FSAs.

"The first and second release sites are the areas from which we can expect to see future rollout - extending and expanding the network. We will also see the announcement of additional release sites as the national rollout ramps up," Mr Quigley said.

The first release sites were announced in March this year. Following detailed design work, NBN Co expects construction to commence this month in the first release areas. Construction in the second release locations is scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2011. A three-stage rollout in Tasmania has been previously announced, with NBN Tasmania to officially launch its stage-one services later this month.

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Rhonda Griffin
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