By Paul Hemsley

Revised arrangements for the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) will mean developers and local councils will have more certainty of each agency’s responsibilities.

Urban Taskforce chief executive Aaron Gadiel said he hoped this will reduce some of the uncertainty and confusion for everyone involved in the urban development service.

Mr Gadiel said local councils are often interested in ensuring that new urban development in their boundaries will have telecommunications services.

“I think like developers, they’ve been frustrated because it’s been unclear which company or authority was responsible for providing these services,” Mr Gadiel said.

According to Mr Gadiel, if councils wanted to be certain they would have services, definitional issues meant they could not know for sure which agency was responsible.

“Those two companies couldn’t seem to agree either,” he said.

Telstra was originally responsible but the federal government’s announcements made in the last two years suggested that the NBN company would be responsible for fibre in ‘broadacre’ agreements, Mr Gadiel said.

He said these are "imprecise terms" not normally used in legal instruments, causing disputes between Telstra and NBNco about whether a particular development is an infill development or a broadacre development.

“That’s led to confusion about where NBNco’s responsibility started and finished and likewise what Telstra in face was obliged to do,” Mr Gadiel said.

The recent clarification means NBNco is responsible if a development project has received its final approval for civil works after 1st January, 2011 and is more than 100 lots or units.

If it is under 100 and its approval was issued prior to 1st January, it is Telstra.