Dear Minister Fletcher and Mr Rue,

We are writing to you regarding NBN infrastructure in the ACT.

We urge you to ensure that Canberra receives a fair proportion of the $3.5 billion in funding announced to finish the NBN.

Our offices are regularly contacted by constituents and businesses about the poor quality of their NBN service. They have reason to complain as well – the Canberra NBN network is comprised of more than 70% Fibre to the Node (FTTN) technology.

Canberra undoubtedly has the worst NBN infrastructure of all the capital cities. The percentage of FTTN is significantly higher in our city than the other major urban centres around the nation. FTTN does not deliver the performance that a modern broadband network should and is significantly worse than Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC).

It has been clear over the roll out of the NBN that Canberra residents and businesses have received a second-rate network and are now paying the price.

It is for this reason that we urge you to allocate funds from this investment to improve Canberra’s NBN network. Canberra is often ignored in these national conversations so we hope you will act to ensure Canberra has at least comparable technology to our nation’s other major cities.

In a global environment that is becoming more digitally dependent every year, Canberra must not be left behind.

Kind regards,

Senator Katy Gallagher

Senator for the ACT

Hon Dr Andrew Leigh 

Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne 

Member for Canberra

David Smith

Member for Bean