HORSHAM Rural City Council has asked the National Broadband Network to reconsider the placement more than a quarter of its planned internet infrastructure.
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The NBN company plans to install about 40 node cabinets on Horsham’s streets to enable faster internet.
The green metal cabinets will be 1.25 metres high by 1.25m wide by 50 centimetres deep, and will be placed above ground on a concrete plinth.
The cabinets contain electronics that will connect each house’s copper phone lines with a fibre optic main line.
The new Fibre-to-the-Node system offers internet speeds about five to ten times faster than existing services.
Horsham council infrastructure manager Martin Duke said NBN provided its list of locations a few weeks ago.
Mr Duke said Horsham council had asked NBN to reconsider the placement of 10 to 15 of the 40 cabinets.
“We’re giving some feedback from council’s perspective: it should be on the nature strip or it should be somewhere else.
“I understand at the same time that NBN is communicating with the adjoining landowner.”
An NBN spokesman said the process for installing the cabinets included consideration of feedback.
“We initially provide councils with indicative locations,” he said.
“As we work through the design and build, locations can change for a variety of reasons, including requests from council to consider alternative sites.”
NBN expects to complete Horsham’s node cabinet installations between February and April.
Mr Duke said the council had asked NBN to change the placement of some node cabinets on the basis that they might interfere with footpaths or bin collection or present a hazard to people with a visual impairment.
“If a cabinet goes up against a building, it could confuse people with a sight impairment who use those landmarks to orientate themselves,” he said.
Mr Duke said NBN had told Horsham council that they would respond to the feedback within the next few weeks.
However, NBN has been granted similar powers to other utility providers when it comes to building infrastructure.
“Council might the overarching authority for the local road but if the water board, for example, said they wanted to put down a water main,” Mr Duke said.
“Council could say they wanted it somewhere else but the water board still has the rights to do what they wanted to do.”
Some streets on Horsham’s outskirts will have node cabinets installed but will have to use NBN’s fixed wireless service.
Copy of letter sent to Horsham residents who live near proposed node cabinet sites: