Canberra suburbs to be upgraded to faster internet

Banks, Campbell, Conder, Dickson, Gordon, Hume, Lyneham, O'Connor, Reid and Turner are set to have their national broadband network infrastructure upgraded.

The suburbs would the first in Canberra to be upgraded to faster internet since the federal government announced its $4.5 billion upgrade to the NBN last year.

But Labor says Canberra will still have the worst network of any capital city.

"What about the residents of the inner south, Belconnen, Woden and Weston Creek? When will the rest of Canberra get quality NBN," Member for Canberra Alicia Payne said.

Member for Bean David Smith said Canberrans had missed out on fast internet.

"The Liberals have stuffed the NBN, causing businesses and households to miss out on the benefits of fast internet," he said.

"During COVID-19 the importance of fast internet has been highlighted as businesses have pivoted and families have worked and studied from home.

"Residents of the ACT deserve better from the NBN Co and the Morrison government and the rollout ... doesn't go far enough."

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The suburbs where the NBN will be upgraded will progressively become eligible for fibre to the premises, upgraded from fibre to the node.

The federal government's upgrade of the network plans to bring fast ultra-fast internet to around 8 million homes by 2023.

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said progress on the upgrade was well underway.

"We very deliberately rolled out the national broadband network at pace across Australia using a range of technologies to ensure we could provide access to high speed broadband services across Australia as quickly as possible," he said.

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