WARRNAMBOOL community leaders are frustrated by uncertainty about access to a new $10 million high-capacity communications cable to the city and fear the region will continue to slip behind because of slow internet broadband.
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NBN Co yesterday told The Standard it had decided not to accept a government offer to use the cable, saying it already had sufficient transmission capacity between Geelong and Warrnambool to service the region. “There is a competitive market for the sorts of links being offered by the Victorian government,” the company said.
“These links are generally complementary to the NBN service, providing additional transmission capacity, usually for larger businesses and institutions.”
The fibre-optic cable which was built by the state government to improve railway signalling between Geelong and Melbourne reportedly has communications capacity of up to 10 times the National Broadband Network cable system, which is yet to reach the south-west.
Deakin University and South West TAFE have been allowed to tap into the new rail route cable under a deal with the government, but for other customers there is no clear answer.
The government is calling for private sector telecommunications providers to register interest in accessing the service. Commerce Warrnambool leader Richard Montgomery and Warrnambool mayor Michael Neoh have called for a swift answer on when access would be available.
“We have a competitive disadvantage because of slow communication speeds,” Mr Montgomery said.
“There is a growing sense of frustration about our internet speed in Warrnambool.
“In my work our Warrnambool office is the only one in our network that doesn’t have reliable video conferencing links. Transmission freezes and drops out regularly.” Cr Neoh last week received a copy of a letter sent by the state government to former federal communications minister Stephen Conroy offering the swap deal on the Geelong-Warrnambool fibre-optic cable.
“If the fibre is there we want to know if the state would arrange for links to local businesses,” the mayor said. “There are too many unknowns.”
NBN Co is scheduled to have fixed wireless service available from next year to Dennington, Allansford and various towns in the south-west, but the main city area will have to wait for cable connections.
Wannon MP Dan Tehan said if the railway cable could be used to save time and money in bringing high-speed broadband to the south-west it should be approved.
“The Coalition has made a commitment that we want to see the broadband rollout completed to all regions by 2016,” he said.
“Under the current NBN Co rollout, some parts of the south-west potentially will have to wait till 2020.”
pcollins@fairfaxmedia.com.au
