NBN goes live in Melbourne

The Melbourne suburb of Brunswick became the first metropolitan area in Australia to feature National Broadband Network (NBN) coverage today, as Prime Minister Julia Gillard activated the network in the area.

Brunswick is the third mainland test site to receive NBN coverage, with approximately 2689 premises covered by the network.

Residents in 1405 of these premises - around 52% of those covered by the network - consented to having a connection to make their premises ‘NBN ready’.

The trial phase is due to run until late September, after which residents in the NBN-enabled areas of Brunswick are expected to be able to order NBN-based services from retail service providers.

NBN Co Chairman Harrison Young said: “The launch today of the NBN in Brunswick and new construction activity we’ve announced are the latest steps towards delivery of a crucial piece of nation-building infrastructure.”

So far, 19 retail service providers have signed up to participate in the NBN trial phase, with 10 having passed through NBN Co’s certification process in readiness to test services. They are: AAPT, Adam Internet, Exetel, iiNet, Internode, Nextgen Networks, Optus, Platform Networks, Primus and Telstra.