The Government has injected $100 million into National Broadband Network Tasmania as part of the Stage 3 roll out, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has said.

Announcing that the Rudd Government’s equity injection to facilitate the further roll out of fibre-to-the-home broadband in the state, Senator Conroy said Stage 3 of the NBN rollout would extend to 90,000 premises in the major population centres of Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie.

“In total, the first three stages of the NBN will target 100,000 premises in Tasmania, including homes, businesses, schools and hospitals, which will receive high speed broadband,” Senator Conroy said.

“Detailed design work is now underway for Stage 3 with 40,000 premises in Hobart, 30,000 in Launceston and 10,000 in each of Burnie and Devonport to have access to superfast broadband via optic fibre.”

The rollout of the NBN in Tasmania is being delivered by the Australian and Tasmanian governments through their publicly owned entities, NBN Tasmania and Aurora Energy. NBN Tasmania chose the sites in conjunction with Aurora Energy.

Senator Conroy said the focus for the Stage 3 urban-based rollout would be on delivering strong commercial outcomes and leveraging off the economies of scale that a large rollout would bring.

“This is about more than just high-speed telecommunications, it is about better access to health services for Tasmanian families and better education opportunities for Tasmanian kids.

“It’s about creating and keeping jobs in Tasmania.”

The first two stages of the rollout are focused on extending the Tasmanian optic fibre backbone network and delivering better telecommunication services into regional Tasmanian communities.

“The rollout started in regional and outer suburban communities to provide support for those regions that have poor telecommunications infrastructure,” Senator Conroy said.

“Stage 1 of the rollout to the townships of Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point is well underway and those communities are on track to start receiving services from July this year.

“NBN Tasmania will soon invite residents of these communities to attend community forums, to provide information on the NBN and how it will benefit them.”

As design and construction work for stages 1, 2 and 3 progress, details of further stages will be released.