FEDERAL Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce has welcomed the opportunity for people living in Westdale, North Tamworth, Oxley Vale and Wallamore to connect to fixed-wireless fast broadband.

The NBN Co’s fixed-wireless service offers wholesale download speeds of up to 25 megabits a second and wholesale upload speeds of up to five megabits per second to retail service providers.

Mr Joyce said the switch-on of the fixed-wireless service would bring better broadband to those living in those areas around Tamworth.

He said for decades rural and regional Australia had been left behind when it came to leading edge communications.

The fixed-wireless service was designed to provide access to internet speeds and bandwidth many in the big cities currently take for granted, he said.

Families and businesses in the region should visit the NBN Co website to see if their address is included as part of the coverage footprint via an interactive map: www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/rollout-map.

Those who wish to sign up should call their preferred local telephone and internet company and additional details are available online at: www.nbnco.com.au/get-an-nbn-connection/certified-service-providers.html