Australian Prime Minister Commits to Completing National Broadband Network with Significant Upgrade
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Canberra, Jan 13 (NationPress) The Prime Minister of Australia has made a commitment to provide a funding boost to "complete" the nation's National Broadband Network (NBN) and improve internet speeds.
On Monday, Anthony Albanese announced a 3 billion Australian dollar (1.84 billion US dollar) equity boost for the NBN to enhance access to fibre internet connections.
He stated that this additional funding would bring new fibre connections to 622,000 premises, with more than half located in regional rural areas.
Upon completion of the upgrade by 2030, Albanese noted that over 11 million homes and businesses would have access to internet speeds exceeding one Gigabit per second (Gbps), a significant increase from the current average NBN speed of 76.64 Megabits per second (Mbps).
"Families and businesses deserve high-speed Internet at a reasonable cost," Albanese expressed at a press conference in Canberra, alongside Ellie Sweeney, CEO of the state-owned NBN Co, and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
According to sources from News Corp Australia, this new funding would elevate the total government investment in the NBN since its inception in 2008 to over 35 billion AUD (21.5 billion USD).
Sweeney characterized the new initiative as the "final piece of the puzzle" for the network, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
Government-commissioned modeling indicated that the upgrade could result in a 10.4 billion AUD (6.39 billion USD) cumulative economic benefit over the next decade.
Earlier on Monday, Albanese convened with his Cabinet for their first meeting of 2025.
In his opening remarks released by his office, Albanese emphasized his focus on presenting a positive and optimistic vision for Australia leading up to the general election, which must occur by May.
Last week, Albanese reiterated the social responsibilities of social media following Meta's announcement to discontinue its fact-checking program.
"Social media has a social responsibility," Albanese stated during a press conference in Mount Isa, located in the northeastern state of Queensland, responding to Meta's decision.
Addressing the criticism regarding Australia's decision to legislate a ban on social media for individuals under 16, Albanese stated, "This is a stance we do not shy away from."
"We will defend Australia's national interest," he added, linking the rise in mental health issues among youth to social media, asserting, "I urge social media to fulfill their social responsibility."
Under this groundbreaking legislation, children and teenagers under the age of 16 in Australia will be prohibited from using social media starting at the end of next year. Social media companies could face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (approximately $31.17 million) for not taking "reasonable steps" to prevent children under 16 from accessing their platforms. However, there will be no penalties for young individuals or parents who violate these rules.
The owner of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, announced that it would be ending its third-party fact-checking program, arguing that expert fact-checkers often carry their own biases and a considerable volume of content ended up being fact-checked.
