Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

getting the NBN finished four years sooner and ensuring that nine out of 10 Australians in the fixed-line footprint receive speeds of 50 megabits per second or more by 2019. I am very pleased to report that the first customers are now active on NBN Co.'s pilot of fast broadband via fibre-to-the-node technology. In the past fortnight the Minister for Communications, Mr Turnbull, visited Umina on the Central Coast of New South Wales and met with residents who, from his reports, were thrilled with the new super-fast broadband connections that they have. One of those is Mr Martin McGuinness, who recently connected to the NBN via fibre to the node. Results from his connections show download speeds of 96 megabits per second and upload speeds of 30 megabits per second were his experience. These are speeds far in excess that the typical user needs, and they demonstrate that fibre-to-the-node fast broadband will come sooner and at far less cost to taxpayers. This is a great result for Central Coast communities and communities around Australia who are crying out for better and faster broadband. We can do it and we can deliver it more affordably and sooner than those opposite.