By Aaron Cordy
CRUISING the internet superhighway just got quicker for Greater Shepparton when the major NBN fibre upgrade milestone was reached last month. An estimated 23,600 homes and businesses now have access to the full fibre network as part of the national upgrade.
Head of NBN local Chris Cusack was on hand at the Queens Garden in Shepparton on March, Friday 22 to make the announcement.
“We know that people across Australia are doing a lot more over the internet. We’re seeing people stream 4K video over multiple devices. We’re seeing people upload and download large files for work, next-level gaming, online education. All of these are consuming more and more data. In fact, we’ve seen a tenfold increase in data usage over the NBN the last 10 years and we’re forecasting that doubling over the next seven years as well,” said Mr Cusack.
The NBN network currently carries 87 per cent of Australian data and data use has tripled in the past six years. The upgrade couldn’t have come at a better time for Greater Shepparton with the issues many have faced in recent weeks with work being done on Telstra’s towers.
“We’re backed by big industry here [in Greater Shepparton]. We know how important high-speed internet connection is for them through their modernisation program that they’re obviously rolling out across a number of different industries. So, this is an important announcement… high-speed internet is more important especially over the last couple of years that we’ve experienced a lot more things are happening away from your central locations, so it’s important to have that high-speed internet available whether it’s at work or at home,” said Cr Sali.
