NBN docs reveal the suburbs that lost out

Internal National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) documentation has revealed the suburbs that narrowly missed out on being amongst the five mainland first release sites for the NBN.

Internal documentation showing first release finalists. (Screenshot by Josh Taylor/ZDNet Australia)

The internal technology discussion paper, released under Freedom of Information laws to Fairfax last week, and given to ZDNet Australia today, reveal that NBN Co had narrowed down a number of finalists for each of the five mainland first release sites before ultimately deciding upon Brunswick, Willunga, Townsville, Kiama Downs and Armidale.

NBN Co chose the five different sites to be diverse in terms of geography, population and housing, in order to give the company a rough idea of the sort of conditions that it would face as the NBN rolls out across Australia. For this reason, NBN Co ultimately decided on two rural locations, two suburban locations and a coastal town.

The documentation shows that NBN Co intended to trial first release sites only in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. The inner-city suburbs of Redfern, Waverley in New South Wales, Spring Hill and New Farm in Queensland and Richmond in Victoria all lost out to Brunswick, which has so far had the lowest opt-in rates on the NBN.

All five first release sites have now officially launched, and commercial services for 14,000 customers commenced on the network at the beginning of this month.

NBN Co is expected to release its 12-month plan of where the network will roll out to over the next year within the next few weeks.