The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has connected its 4000th customer to the service, well behind the target of 35,000 set for June last year by the Federal Government.

 

The 4000 connections comprise 2315 premises using the fibre optic service and 1700 in rural and remote Australia receiving broadband via the interim satellite service, which was launched six months ago.

 

The network has so far been rolled out and activated in areas passing 18,200 premises – three sites in Tasmania and the five mainland First Release sites. NBN Co announced in October plans to extend the fibre to an area covering half a million premises in every state and territory, and is expected to announce plans to roll out the NBN to a further three million homes over the next three years. It also plans to switch on the first rural communities to be served with a fixed-wireless connection by mid-2012.

 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended the delays to connections, which were attributed to the slow process in negotiating the agreement with Telstra, which still needs to be approved by the ACCC.

 

"We did take the time necessary to negotiate with Telstra an appropriate agreement to use its infrastructure because that meant that the NBN could be rolled out more easily using pre-existing infrastructure," Ms Gillard said.