The Nationals Senator for Victoria and Patron Senator for Bendigo Bridget McKenzie has encouraged central Victorians to complete the Coalition’s nationwide broadband survey.
The survey, which was launched this week, can be completed online via Senator McKenzie’s website www.bridgetmckenzie.com.au.
“More than 29,000 Bendigo premises have been promised connection to Labor’s NBN by 2015, so it is important to understand the current capacities of the local network.
“The Coalition is committed to targeting those areas where broadband speeds are not meeting consumer demand.
“The NBN is taking too long to be rolled out, costs too much and is duplicating existing services – only one in four households originally expected to be connected to the service will be by mid-next year.
“New customers are being connected at a rate of six per working day but to meet targets in the new Corporate Plan, more than 6000 customers would need to be connected per working day to switch to the NBN by 2015.
“The Coalition is committed to upgrading broadband sooner, cheaper and more affordably for consumers.
“Our plan for better broadband will encourage competition among infrastructure providers rather than stamp it out.
“It will see existing infrastructure used where possible and will use a mix of technologies, meaning broadband speeds will be upgraded much sooner and at less cost to taxpayers.
“Using the results of this survey, the Coalition will prioritise the areas with the worst broadband in Bendigo so that they don’t have to wait for Labor to deliver on its promises.”