Labor is calling on regional Australians to have their say on the NBN rollout as part of Parliaments new NBN inquiry.
Parliaments NBN Oversight Committee is holding an inquiry into the rollout of the NBN across rural and regional Australia and is accepting submissions from residents, business and consumer advocacy groups.
With only a week to go before submissions close, Regional Australians should take the opportunity to raise their concerns in a short submission to the Committee.
Regional Australia has been left to bear the brunt of Malcolm Turnbulls poor technology choices switching from fibre to copper and the Turnbull Governments refusal to adequately address systemic faults and connection issues.
In January, NBN Co conceded that 75 per cent of customers on copper-NBN would not be able to achieve the maximum advertised speed of 100Mbps. This significantly impacts regional Australia which has been left stranded by Turnbulls second rate copper NBN on slower speeds and poor service.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) also revealed that one in three households have had their phone or internet services disrupted when connecting to the NBN. Whats worse is more than 10 per cent of households continue to be without a working phone or internet service after four weeks.
Regional Australia is sick and tired of the spin being put about by the Government and NBN Co which have consistently denied the extent of the problems.
Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) grew by 160 per cent in the last year alone. For the first time, internet related complaints ranked as the highest category for complaints, overtaking mobile phone services and billing complaints.
Labor is calling on residents, business and consumer advocacy groups to share their experiences and views and inform the Committees work. This is a chance for regional Australia to have their say and tell Turnbull and the Liberal Nationals that their second-rate NBN is simply not good enough.
Labor will continue to fight to ensure consumers on the NBN get a better deal. Australians deserve a real broadband network that delivers the speeds and reliability they need for their business, education and a truly digitally-enabled society.
Submission to the Committee close on 29 March 2018. For more information, visit the Committees website at www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/National_Broadband_Network/Ruralandregionalrollout.
