The National Broadband Network will be rolled out to 135,300 ACT premises over the next three years, as part of a nationwide schedule announced today.
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The schedule includes roll out to a total of 3.5 million homes, businesses, schools and hospitals across the country, in an even split of Labor and non-Labor seats.
Nationwide, NSW will see work completed or underway on 1 million connections by mid 2015, Victoria 700,000 connections and 680,000 premises in Queensland. Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania will also see new connections.
''Its going to be a fundamental change to regional and suburban economies,'' Ms Gillard said in Sydney.
The figures released in today's announcement includes premises already connected in the earlier phases of the NBN project. According to the NBN Co., the network has so far been rolled out and activated in areas passing 18,200 premises nationwide.
Areas of Gungahlin were the first in Canberra to receive connections to the new network, with work underway for an initial 6000 homes late last year, and a further 14,800 north Canberra homes scheduled to be connected this year.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy - aware of interest in which electorates would receive the NBN - said he had already conducted the political analysis of the roll out.
''I thought I'd just save you all time,'' he said.
Senator Conroy said that there were 67 Labor electorates, 61 Coalition electorates and 6 crossbench electorates included in this phase of the rollout.
The Communications Minister said this would cover 139 out of 150 lower house seats at this stage, and acknowledged that those who missed out will be disappointed.
''Ultimately no one will miss out,'' Senator Conroy added, before reminding the audience that the Coalition planned to scrap the NBN.
Ms Gillard said that 6,000 premises would be connected per week in the roll out and that this would directly create 16,000 jobs.
She said the high speed broadband would improve education, health care and business opportunities in Australia.
''I'm here today to say very clearly, that whilst our 100 year-old copper telephone network has seved us well, it cannot deliver the broadband we need for the future,'' she said.
The announcement comes as the Economist Intelligence Unit released a report finding that compared to other countries, Australia's broadband network uses the most taxpayer's funds.
''The outstanding example of extreme government intervention is Australia,'' the report, released yesterday, said.
It also comes as the government defends its decision to ban Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei from contracts with the NBN. The government blocked Huawei after ASIO advice that the company posed a security risk to Australia.
Earlier this week, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was named an Intelligent Community Visionary of the year for 2012 by a New York think tank.
Senator Conroy received the award from Intelligent Community Forum - a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community - for his role in establishing the NBN.
Last month, the Gillard government announced $620 million to build two new satellites to connect some of Australia's most remote towns - covering three per cent of houses. The satellites will be built in California and are due in service in 2015.
Canberra suburbs where work will begin before mid-2015:
Ainslie, Amaroo, Aranda, Banks, Barton, Belconnen, Bonython, Braddon, Bruce, Calwell, Campbell, Chapman, Charnwood, Chifley, Chisholm, City, Conder, Cook, Crace, Curtin, Deakin, Dickson, Downer, Duffy, Dunlop, Evatt, Fadden, Farrer, Fisher, Florey, Flynn, Forrest, Franklin, Fraser, Garran, Gilmore, Giralang, Gordon, Gowrie, Greenway, Griffith, Gungahlin, Hackett, Harrison, Hawker, Higgins, Holder, Holt, Hughes, Isaacs, Isabella Plains, Kaleen, Kambah, Kingston, Latham, Lawson, Lyneham, Lyons, Macarthur, Macgregor, Macquarie, Mawson, McKellar, Melba, Mitchell, Monash, Narrabundah, Ngunnawal, Nicholls, O'Connor, O'Malley, Oxley, Page, Palmerston, Parkes, Pearce, Phillip, Red Hill, Reid, Richardson, Rivett, Scullin, Spence, Stirling, Theodore, Torrens, Turner, Wanniassa, Waramanga, Watson, Weetangera and Weston.
with staff reporters
