Customers in Eimeo, Bucasia and Rural View in Mackay’s Northern Beaches are set to have access to ultrafast broadband following NBN Co’s announcement of the latest tranche of suburbs and towns across Australia that will become eligible to upgrade to NBN’s Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).

Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, welcomed today’s announcement by NBN Co identifying the locations of an additional 300,000 homes and businesses which will be able to access ultrafast internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps (one gigabit per second, otherwise known as 1,000 megabits per second – or blazing fast broadband).

The commencement of these works by NBN Co will be welcomed by residents, and will create jobs for the Mackay region and support local businesses by allowing them to take advantage of the benefits that ultrafast broadband can provide.

It’s expected that customers in the Eimeo, Bucasia and Rural View fibre-to-the-node footprint will be able to order high-speed plans later this year, and NBN Co will build fibre to the premises at no up-front cost.

These upgrades will allow for 4K streaming on multiple devices concurrently, enhance the online gaming experience, better support Australians working from home and so much more for those who order an eligible service once available.

Work on the 1.1 million premises in the Fibre to the Node network areas selected for upgrade is underway and today’s announcement takes the total footprint to 1.4 million premises selected.

“This is a further step towards delivering on NBN Co’s commitment as part of the $4.5 billion network upgrades announced last year, that two million premises presently on the fibre to the node footprint will be able to order a service of up to 1 Gbps by the end of 2023.” Minister Fletcher said.

In total, NBN Co’s commitment is to make speeds of up to 1 Gbps available to around 8 million premises, or up to 75 per cent of homes and businesses in the fixed line network footprint, by 2023.

For more information on the NBN, go to www.nbnco.com.au