NBN boss says network a national asset

Australia's new national broadband network will serve as an asset to the country for
the next half century, the man in charge of delivering it says.
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley spoke to representatives from the information
and communications technologies sector in Adelaide on Friday, providing further
details about the next phase of the network rollout.
While the first services will be officially launched in Tasmania later this month,
14 new sites to receive fibre optics-based services in the second phase were
revealed on Thursday.
The new network will be connected through fibre optics, as will 90 per cent of
Australian households once the project is completed.
The rest of the nation, including some regional and suburban areas, will rely on a
wireless system and two $500 million satellites.
Mr Quigley said the wireless system would be used to fill in black spots in the
network.
However, he admitted the wireless system would have drawbacks in that its capacity
was much more limited.
The more people that come on to a network, the slower it would get and Mr Quigley
said video imposed a particularly heavy demand.
But despite these drawbacks, Mr Quigley believed the network will serve as an asset
to Australia for 40 to 50 years.



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