Conroy dismisses concerns over number of NBN connections

The Australian Broadband and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has recently brushed aside concerns over the number of NBN connections as of the end of last year.

It was reported recently that last year ended with around four thousand connections to the National Broadband Network in total, with a larger proportion being connection by fibre and the remainder being wirelessly connected through interim satellite technology.

This total number of four thousand was not as high as many had hoped and this is something that critics of the NBN quickly cottoned on to. A number of concerns have been raised with regards to the number of total connection as of the end of 2011 but the Australian Broadband and Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has brushed these concerns aside, branding them premature and ‘irrelevant’.

In its corporate plan the company heading up the NBN rollout, NBN Co, is said to have projected around 35,000 connections for the end of last year, so the actual figure fell way short of this prediction. Concerns have also been raised that the four thousand connections are just a fraction of the 18,200 premises where the network is actually now available.

Conroy has stated that these claims are premature and states that it is way too early to start judging the success of the NBN when it was still in its early stages. A spokesperson for Conroy also said that the concerns were irrelevant, as were the end figures for last year, as many would be forced to join the NBN as a result of the deals between NBN Co and a number of big name providers.