NBN Co chief Mike Quigley has responded to recent protests over the installation of LTE Mobile broadband towers in regional centres today, by advising that the alternative is satellite and not fibre optic, according to the Fairfax Press.
''We really do not have another option other than providing a satellite service,'' Mr Quigley told The Sydney Morning Herald today. Mr Quigley added ''It is very important that we do not set a precedent where if people object in local councils to a fixed wireless service that they think [that] ... it will be fibre, because it won't.''
The National Broadband Network has stated a goal of providing fibre-optic lines to the home, or FTTH, for 93% of Australian households by 2021, capable of providing maximum speeds of 100 megabits per second, or Mbps. 4% will be served by a 4G mobile network, engineered to provide constant speeds of 12 Mbps. The remaining three will be served by satellite, with top speeds of 6 Mbps. The ratio between wireless and satellite might change, facing growing concern over the placement of towers in regional areas.
The recent protests from Smeaton, a region of Ballarat, Victoria, have recalled fears of mobile phone networks in the 1990s. To date, no concensus has been reached by the scientific community on the long term adverse health affects of cellular radiation.