NSW puts in bid to host NBNCo

The NSW government has made its bid to be the home state of the National Broadband Network Company (NBNCo) with the launch of a new promotional video.

The video, available here, puts forward Sydney as the “gateway to Australia and from Australia, to the rest of the world”, providing the best location for the headquarters of the NBNCo.

“NSW is uniquely place to connect the nation to opportunities provided by the NBN,” the video claims.

Qualifying this claim, the NSW State Government argues that Sydney has access to major users and content providers, test beds available to pilot the NBN, is a major communications hub, has access to civil engineering and skills base, and NSW Government assistance.

The video also claims that 83 percent of Australia’s commercial banks are based in Sydney, that the majority of the headquarters of Australia’s biggest companies are based there, and that it houses the headquarters of more Asia-Pacific companies than all other cities combined.

“Sydney has double the data centre capacity of the next largest Australian city. . . 43 percent of expenditure on telecommunications RD. . . and the best international telecommunications connectivity, with seven of the nine fibre optic cables linking us to the US, Europe and Asia,” the video says.

The NSW government has also created a National Broadband Network taskforce and is planning to “leverage the state’s assets to expedite the efficient roll out of the NBN”, according to the video.

The taskforce has identified three potential sites in the Sydney CBD — Australian Technology Park at Redfern, Barangaroo in the CBD, and North Ryde Global Business Centre.

“Excited by these benefits to the NBN headquarters?” the video asks, “So are we.”