Ipswich may go it alone on gigabit broadband

The City of Ipswich will consider intervening to ensure businesses and residences have access to gigabit-speed broadband services if the nbn cannot deliver this to the city.

A report commissioned by the council from specialist consulting company Gravelroad suggests that if the city is to meet its ambition of becoming a digital city it must keep all connectivity options open and not be limited to the nbn.

The report found that gigabit services will soon become the normal requirement for both residential and commercial high-end users.

The availability of gigabit broadband has the potential to attract industries such as automated manufacturing and allow remote access to high-speed health and education delivery applications.

Economic Development and Digital City Committee Chairman Paul Tully said the council needs to establish whether the nbn can meet the needs of the city or whether gigabit service demand could be provided sooner from other sources. “As a city we need to keep our options open. The nbn was created to bring world-class broadband to businesses and residents; however, Australia is still ranked around 50th of the developed nations,” he said.

“The Gigacity Report suggests for Ipswich to continue to grow and be recognised as digital city it should review all connectivity options and not be limited to the nbn. There are key recommendations for council to intervene, if required at the completion of the nbn rollout, to accelerate the availability of gigabit services.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/nadla

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