Australians demonstrate growing appetite for superfast broadband

• Average NBN take-up of 34.4% in communities active for more than 12 months
• Take-up in excess of 50% of premises passed in Kiama NSW and Willunga SA
• Fibre experiencing faster take-up rate than other broadband technologies

The NSW South Coast town of Kiama and the South Australian town of Willunga have entered the record books as the first locations in Australia where more than 50% of eligible homes and businesses have elected to use the National Broadband Network.

In communities where NBN fibre has been up and running for more than 12 months more than a third of eligible premises have taken up a service. Adoption of the NBN in newer rollout sites is showing an even more accelerated trajectory.

Figures released today by NBN Co at the Communications Day Summit in Sydney demonstrate an increasing appetite among Australians for high speed broadband.

In those communities where the fibre network has been rolled out:

• The average take-up rate in locations where the network has been operating for more than 12 months is 34.4%
• The communities with the highest fibre take-up as a percentage of premises passed are Kiama, NSW, and Willunga, South Australia, with more than 50% of all eligible premises using the NBN
• Average take-up across sites that have been operating for more than 6 months is already 28% of premises passed
• NBN fibre households are uploading and downloading more than double the Australian average for bandwidth (50Gb down/18Gb up (for NBN Co fibre) v. 23Gb down/estimated 2-to-4 Gb up (for fixed broadband)*

"Australians clearly want better broadband. When the NBN becomes available in an area it's in very high demand.

"Families are discovering that they can work from home like they would from the office; get all the family online at once and stream TV over the internet more smoothly.+  

"Just as importantly, services over the NBN fibre network are available from a wide variety of retail providers at a price less than consumers might think."

According to Mr. Simon, the speed at which the NBN is being taken up is superior when compared to other internet technologies.

For instance, it took four years to achieve a 13% take-up rate over dial-up; six years to reach 28% take-up of ADSL; and 15 years to get to a 34% take-up of HFC. ^#

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Andrew Sholl
0448 805 806
andrewsholl@nbnco.com.au

Rhonda Griffin
0428 134 401

Notes to Editors

 More information on the rollout of the NBN is available at www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/rollout-map or by calling 1800 OUR NBN (1800 687 626)

*  NBN download and upload usage based on sample analysis of actual daily network throughput representing the majority of NBN's end-users for the month of January 2013. Australian average download usage based on ABS average fixed broadband downloads/subscriber/month for the June 2012 quarter

+  Consumers' experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the NBN, is partially dependent on factors outside our control like your equipment quality, software, broadband plans and how your service provider designs its network.

^#  Figures from DBCDE Media Release  dated 17 December "NBN Take-Up: the facts"  at www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2012/205#_ftn5