Rural National Broadband Network Coordinators
About the Rural NBN Coordinators
The Australian Government is engaging Rural NBN Coordinators to work with regional, rural and remote communities in priority backbone blackspot regions to take full advantage of the opportunities of broadband. The Rural NBN Coordinators will complement the NBN Regional Backbone Blackspots Program, which is the first building block of the National Broadband Network on the mainland.
Role of Coordinators
Coordinators will play an important role in raising awareness of broadband and the opportunities of competitive backhaul services, promoting broadband take-up and use and improving community understanding of the opportunities of broadband and engagement in the digital economy.
A key task for Coordinators is to highlight the opportunities and benefits arising from the new backbone infrastructure funded through the Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. The Australian Government is investing $250 million through that program to address priority backbone blackspots in regional Australia. This investment will fund the construction of approximately 6000km of backbone infrastructure, benefiting more than 100 regional locations and around 395 000 people across five states and the Northern Territory.
Coordinators will work closely with key community organisations in their coverage areas—in particular, local councils, Regional Development Australia offices, state and territory governments, local chambers of commerce and community groups.
The map below shows the backbone links and indicative Coordinator coverage areas. Use the link underneath it to download a much larger version of the map.
Large map with indicative coverage areas for rural NBN coordinators (JPG, 1.8 MB)Recruitment of Coordinators
On 6 May 2010, the Australian Government called for applications for up to eight Rural NBN Coordinators. Applications closed on 23 May 2010.
A merit-based selection process is currently underway, It is expected that Coordinators will be progressively deployed from mid 2010.
Further information
Please check in regularly for upcoming announcements on the deployment of the Coordinators.
You can also contact the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy by email to ruralnbncoordinators@dbcde.gov.au
To find out more about other Australian Government broadband initiatives, visit www.dbcde.gov.au/broadband.
