If you want to know what type of broadband service will be available in your area after the proposed National Broadband Network is built, the information has now been released to the public.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Labor Party have now increased the National Broadband Network's (NBN) optical fibre broadband coverage 3% to a total of 93% of all Australian homes. The rest of Australians can expect to receive next generation high quality mobile wireless or satellite broadband services.

The added 3% of optical fibre coverage means another 300,000 Australia homes will have access to super-fast broadband with speeds running up to 100mbps.

These speeds are approximately 50 times faster than the current average ADSL broadband connection in Australia. Mobile wireless broadband and satellite connections will run at 12mbps, with data limits around 20 times higher than current levels within those technologies.

To see what kind of broadband you’ll have access to via the NBN, you can go to the Australian Labor Party’s website and view various maps of either the state you live in, or Australia as a whole.

The NBN is estimated to cost Australian taxpayers around $43 billion dollars over eight years, and will be the largest national infrastructure project in the country’s history. If the Coalition wins the impending federal election on August 21, they will abandon the entire project. However, they have yet to offer detailed alternatives.

Prime Minister Gillard estimates the scheme will create 25,000 jobs for Australian society, and will ensure the country stays up-to-date with the global technology evolution. She expressed fears that Australian jobs could be lost to competing economies like Japan, South Korea, or Singapore who already have super-fast broadband networks necessary in the Digital Age.

Country towns like Tennant Creek, Cooma, Warrnambool and Port Augusta are among over 1,000 towns and cities that will now be able to receive fibre broadband, giving instant access to the most modern medical and educational platforms the world has to offer. It is estimated only 4% of Australians will need to use an updated mobile wireless broadband service, while the 3% of remaining ‘Outback’ areas will use high quality satellite connections.

The NBN has already begun its rollout process in Tasmania, and the mainland has seen over 1,200 km of optical fibre laid under the NBN Regional Backbone Blackspots program. This program will lay over 6,000km of fibre cable in regional areas, providing 100mbps broadband to 100 towns, 400,000 people, and creating 1,000 full-time jobs in these communities.