Businesses in Tamworth and Armidale will be able to order high-speed fibre broadband as NBN Co rolls out new Business Fibre Zones to help boost economic growth and productivity during COVID-19.

Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, said the Australian Government backed the $700 million investment into NBN Co’s Business Fibre Initiative which included two busy regional centres in the electorate.

Under the new measures, businesses located in that Business Fibre Zone will be able to request a fibre upgrade through their retailer at no upfront cost.

In Tamworth, businesses from the airport to Taminda and into town will be able to take advantage of the speed increase. In Armidale, coverage will extend to most of the city including Acacia Park Industrial Estate.

“After drought, bushfire and now coronavirus, a strong local economy is just what the New England needs and this infrastructure upgrade will help deliver that,” Mr Joyce said.

“It will also support business-critical applications including cloud storage and online collaboration helping our local businesses stay competitive in the digital age.

“The initiative will support our economic recovery from COVID-19 and the Government’s goal for Australia to be a leading digital economy by 2030.”

The Business Fibre Zones will offer wholesale symmetrical speeds from 10 Mbps up to 1 Gbps on request to more than 700,000 businesses in 240 Business Fibre Zones and will reduce wholesale pricing by up to 67 per cent for businesses in Zones outside metropolitan centres.

Construction of the Zones will deliver up to 6,000 jobs by 2021-22, including more engineers, project managers and construction crew.

NBN Co will allocate $50 million to help expand these Business Fibre Zones by co-investing with Local Councils and State Governments.  

Specific location details of Tamworth and Armidale zones are available at nbnco.com.au

More information about the Business Fibre Initiative is available at: nbnco.com.au/businessfibre  

(ENDS)