Roll out of NBN unfair: Vic government

The Victorian government says the roll out of the federal government's National Broadband Network (NBN) is unfair because not enough priority is being given to Victorians.

The company undertaking the work for the federal government, NBN Co, is about to begin construction work on the next stage of the rollout of the high-speed broadband network.

The company released a 12-month plan on Tuesday, listing 28 new locations in each state and territory where construction of the fibre optic network will start between now and September 2012.

Victoria's minister for technology, Gordon Rich-Phillips says while Victoria has a quarter of Australia's population, it is unfair that the state is only getting 12 per cent of the national share.

"We believe the roll out should have regard to the size of Victoria's population," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

"We should be getting our fair share of this initial roll out."

He said only 61,000 Victorian households were receiving NBN connection under the program, out of 485,000 being rolled out in the first year.

He wants the federal minister for broadband, Stephen Conroy, to intervene and persuade NBN Co to connect more of Victoria to the network.

"We'd like to see the Commonwealth address that in this initial roll out and subsequent roll outs," he said."

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