Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in writing, on 20 October 2010:

In respect of the roll out of the Government's National Broadband Network in Tasmania, and a statement on National Broadband Network Tasmania's website that the: 'port on the [Network Termination Unit] into which an end user plugs their equipment is a standard Ethernet 10/100Base T interface': (1) does this reflect the interface that is actually being provided; (2) if so, how does this reconcile with the statements by this company and the Government that the network will provide speeds of up to one gigabyte per second, when the use of the interface described would limit speeds actually delivered into homes to no more than 100 megabytes per second.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(1) A standard NEC manufactured Ethernet 10/100Base T interface Network Termination Unit (NTU) has been used in Tasmania for the stage 1 'pre release' rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in that State. Stage 1 of the rollout was designed to test network planning and construction techniques under different conditions.

(2) NBN Co Limited is purchasing Alcatel-manufactured Ethernet 10/100/1000Base T interfaces for the rollout of the NBN nationally. This NTU is capable of supporting speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

Premises in Tasmania currently connected to the NBN via a standard NEC NTU will be progressively migrated to the Alcatel NTU, meaning that all premises in Tasmania connected to the NBN fibre network will have access to speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.