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Telstra team has a jabber in Jabiru

11 May 2015

Telstra Regional Sales Manager NT Steve Tutt with West Arnhem Regional Council Manager Corporate Services Valentin Markez in Jabiru. Telstra Regional Sales Manager NT Steve Tutt with West Arnhem Regional Council Manager Corporate Services Valentin Markez in Jabiru.

MEMBERS of the Telstra team who visited Jabiru on Thursday 7 May say they were knocked out by the turnout and the friendliness of the residents. “The people of Jabiru were keen to talk to us about their town and the work they did out here,” one team member said.

The Telstra team and their big pink bus travel from one community to the next, providing information and face-to-face help to residents who have queries about telecommunications issues. Many of the townspeople in Jabiru who attended on the day said they were pleased to get first-hand information from Telstra about issues such as the internet speed in Jabiru, the mobile network and the NBN.

“Compliments to Telstra for making an effort to connect personally with remote location residents,” one resident said.

West Arnhem Regional Council Head of Corporate Services Valentin Markez spoke with the visiting Telstra techs about the possibility of hooking up West Arnhem communities to fibre optic broadband. In December 2009 Telstra laid a fibre-optic cable between Jabiru and Nhulunbuy.

The $34 million Arnhem Land Fibre Project, which received funding from the Northern Territory Government and Rio Tinto, connected nine health centres and twelve schools across Arnhem Land, upgrading their capacity from 256Kb to 20Mbps services.

“We are looking to connect our Council offices to this fibre-optic cable where possible to provide better broadband speed and better services to our remote communities,” Mr Markez said.

Telstra Regional Sales Manager NT Steve Tutt said Jabiru’s 3G mobile network would likely be upgraded to 4GX by around September this year, providing faster internet mobile data.

Meanwhile the NBN Co, a separate entity to Telstra, are scheduled to connect Jabiru customers to the National Broadband Network through satellite technology sometime before mid-2016. Keep your eyes on The Wire for official announcements as they come to hand.

Mel McTavish and Evan, Evi Bowyer and Blake with some of the Telstra crew in Jabiru. Mel McTavish and Evan, Evi Bowyer and Blake with some of the Telstra crew in Jabiru.