Jeremy Rockliff

Premier of Tasmania



28 September 2017

Michael Ferguson, Minister for Information Technology and Innovation

Superfast internet comes South

Hobart is set to join Launceston, Amsterdam, Moscow, Singapore, Toronto, Barcelona and Kansas City as a `Gigacity’ with the rollout of Gigabit internet from today.

The superfast connectivity, launched in Tasmania by Launtel, is 10 times faster than that currently available interstate and the Hodgman Liberal Government is confident that Gigabit will play a transformational role for our economy.

Gigabit will ensure significant commercial advantage for local businesses by providing unlimited internet access with 1000 Mbps download (1 Gigabit) and 400 Mbps upload speeds.

This will allow for much greater integration of business systems via the cloud; real-time collaboration through high quality video conferencing, improved remote working capabilities and increased competition in the telecommunications market.

More businesses will be attracted to the state and more local jobs will be generated.

Gigabit launched in Launceston in May, and it is already getting rave reviews for those with fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connectivity provided through the National Broadband Network (NBN).

The rollout of the NBN in Hobart was largely completed earlier this month with only some premises requiring additional work and approximately 60,000 properties in the urban area will be able to connect to Gigabit immediately.

The service will be able to be rolled out to other communities with FTTP, such as Deloraine, Scottsdale and Smithton, in the future.

The Hodgman Government will always be open to creating opportunities to compete in the digital economy and with the launch of Gigabit in Hobart, our Digital Ready program and Enterprize Innovation Hubs, we are focused on ensuring greater digital literacy among business leaders, as well as students.



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