By Luke Voogt
More than half of Greater Geelong can now connect to the NBN, the government corporation responsible for delivering the network announced yesterday.
About 57,000 of 112,000 premises could connect to the fixed line network, NBN Co’s Victorian head Ebony Aitken said.
The NBN Co switched on seven towers for its wireless service in February and March, bringing the Geelong rollout out to halfway, Ms Aitkin said.
Another 55,000 Geelong premises will be able to connect to the fixed line network by mid-2019, she said.
Property owners have 18 months to connect or they will lose their landline phone as NBN Co decommissions the existing copper network.
According to national estimates about three quarters of people chose to connect to the NBN, Ms Aitkin said.
“We are finding that Greater Geelong is consistent with this profile.“
Based on the estimates roughly 43,000 premises in Geelong will likely choose to connect by the end of the 18 month period.
“The most popular time to switch over to (the NBN is) the first six months after a premise can officially connect,” Ms Aitkin said.
“We get another surge of activations towards the end of the 18-month migration window as residents and businesses (connect) before their existing services are de-activated.”
The NBN Co has completed the rollout in Belmont, Portarlington and Ocean Grove.
The corporation has also connected 6,900 premises in Lara, Leopold, Moolap and other parts of Geelong.
NBN Co switched on access in Portarlington, Ocean Grove, Lara and Moolap between late 2016 and early 2018.
“This means that disconnection of the existing copper network began in parts of these areas in February and will continue progressively until the end of the year,” Ms Aitkin said.
The NBN Co has begun construction to allow 23,000 premises in both Lara and Moolap to connect to the wireless network by mid-2019.
The further 30,000 premises in the rest of Geelong will be able to connect between late 2018 and early 2019, Ms Aitkin said.
NBN Co expected to switch on the remaining five Geelong towers for its wireless network by early 2020.
About 2,800 premises can connect through the wireless network, while another 1,700 will be able to connect once the rollout is complete.
