THE president of the Margaret River Chamber of Commerce is calling for residents to take action to draw attention to the region’s need for fast internet.
Peter Griffyn said the chamber had started an electronic petition in the hope of demonstrating to NBN Co and Telstra that they need to supply the area with NBN Fibre to the Node before June 2016.
“There is no FTTN/P infrastructure planned and the lack of it compromises our economy,” Mr Griffyn said.
Mr Griffyn said the newly introduced MRCCI free public Wifi has been well received by visitors and locals to the town, but was not enough for Margaret River and Augusta residents.
These residents use internet services predominantly at work and home, hence the need for the Fibre to the Node infrastructure according to Mr Griffyn.
Mr Griffyn said the petition’s original goal was to obtain 100 signatures, however as of yesterday it had just surpassed that target.
“Signing electronic petitions takes more commitment than 'liking' something,” Mr Griffyn said.
“The petition will effect change of this situation.”
The petition will be delivered to the Senate in Parliament in the hope that NBN Co will listen to the community’s wishes.
The Department of Communications said that according to the NBN website Margaret River and Augusta are included in the National Rollout Plan.
Mr Griffyn however said that NBN Co will not improve the service level of infrastructure in the region because they don't see a return on investment.
“The idea of Labor's original Fibre to the Premises plan was for all Australians, now the plan is Australians in densely populated areas,” Mr Griffyn said.
The Department of Communications said that NBN Co had advised that to deliver fast broadband sooner at less cost to taxpayers and more affordably for consumers, the NBN should be completed using a multi-technology mix.
Signing electronic petitions takes more commitment than 'liking' something.
- Peter Griffyn
“This will match the right technology to the right location and make use of existing infrastructure where possible,” a Department of Communications spokesperson said.
“This approach is predicted to cost $32 billion less to implement, get the NBN finished by 2020 and enable nine out of ten Australians in the fixed line footprint to get access to download speeds of 50 megabits per second (mbps) or more.”
The petition can be found at www.change.org/p/support-the-need-for-a-margaret-river-rollout-of-nbn-fibre-to-the-node-before-june-2016.
