NBN hits Sydney, Perth, Brisbane

Sydney, Perth and Brisbane are set to benefit from the latest round of rollouts for the national broadband network that already has Melbourne in its pilot phase.

NBN Co said the fresh round would take the fibre optic network into 14 fresh locations and see fibre service expanded into areas adjacent to the five existing trial sites announced in April.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy foreshadowed the announcement at an event in Sydney yesterday before releasing details of the second release sites at NBN Co's North Sydney headquarters with its chief Mike Quigley today.

The rollout was being announced in progressive stages rather than waiting until the NBN Co was ready to reveal major rollout plans due to "enormous public interest" in the company's activities, Mr Quigley said.Mr Quigley revealed that three new metropolitan second release sites had been selected in Perth, Sydney and Brisbane while the remaining 11 were to be spread across regional areas in NSW, Victoria, the ACT, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

If the federal government changes hands at the next election the NBN project would be cancelled but Senator Conroy yesterday said it wouldn't allow the Coalition to hold the project back.

"The opposition is as backward-looking as you can get.

"If we simply said we should stop now because of the opposition (policy), nothing would ever happen,'' he said.

Today he congratulated Mr Quigley on the company's progress.

Construction at the new sites was not expected to be completed until after the election -- in the second quarter of next year.

That means voters in electorates near the second release sites are being given a strong incentive to see the government returned at the polls.

Senator Conroy today played down his involvement in selecting the sites but yesterday admitted he had influenced NBN Co in choosing sites in Western Australia.

The national capital rollouts are located at Victoria Park, Riverstone on Sydney's western outskirts and an unspecified region in Brisbane's inner north.

Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland have been granted two new regional sites each.

In Victoria service areas will be built at Bacchus Marsh and South Morang, while Geraldton and Mandurah have been selected for Western Australia. Springfield Lakes and Toowoomba have been chosen in Queensland.

In South Australia the new sites would be opened at Modbury and Prospect in metropolitan Adelaide.

NBN Co's current test site in South Australia is at Willunga.

NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory have each received one new regional service area in Coffs Harbour, Gungahlin and Casurina, respectively.

Aside from Willunga the remaining four trial sites already earmarked for construction are located at Brunswick in Melbourne, Townsville in Queensland, Minnamurra and Kiama Downs and Armidale in NSW.

For the second round of rollouts, Mr Quigley said that the company would consult more closely with local government to locate service areas than it did for the first release sites.