Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite want to ignore examples like I have just been talking about in Kiama. They want to ignore the fact that services are starting to be provided on the fixed wireless network—the towers that I am being asked about. We had the Geraldton customer, who said, 'I'm getting a better service at a much cheaper rate.' NBN Co. has estimated that it requires approximately 2,300 wireless sites to roll out its fixed wireless broadband network.

Roughly half of these 2,300 sites will consist of new towers and the other half will consist of transmitters co-located on existing structures such as existing mobile phone towers. Ultimately, the exact number of wireless sites will depend on the number and the kinds of sites that NBN Co. is able to acquire and the number of existing facilities that will be available to NBN Co.

As required by Victorian planning laws, development applications have been lodged for new telecommunications towers with local councils in the Ballarat region. These new towers will be used to deliver, as I said, the next generation of fixed wireless broadband over the NBN to rural areas that are outside the NBN's fibre footprints. For those opposite, could I point out to them that their policy in regional Victoria— (Time expired)