Broadband

The National Broadband Network (NBN), after strategic research and lobbying from some of Ballarat's key ICT leaders, was announced to be rolled-out initially in a region very close to Ballarat, in hope the Ballarat would be one of the flow-on towns to see deployment of the network early in the eight year national rollout.

The City of Ballarat and Ballarat ICT recognise the significance and potential impact that the National Broadband Network initiative will have on Ballarat and the surrounding regions, both in terms of the equity of access that it will provide as well as access to new generation broadband infrastructure and a range of new and innovative services an facilities.

As such, Ballarat ICT are supporting local government, land developers and infrastructure providers in adopting a proactive approach to NBN roll-out logistics (for example, new developments, identification of retrofitting strategies, etc).

Ballarat's major telecommunications companies are leading the way with continual upgrading of information and communications technologies.

In 2009, Telstra launched and released its updated Next G network, which provided greater speeds and coverage to residents and businesses in Ballarat and surrounds.

In 2010, Ballarat saw the upgrade and implementation of Neighbourhood Cable’s Hibred Fibre Coaxial to DOCSIS 3 throughout the Ballarat region

The City has also taken a collaborative/leadership role in the Regional Cities Victoria Initiative in developing a Victoria-wide approach to tackling the need for greater broadband and communications infrastructure within regional Victoria.