The company building the National Broadband Network (NBN) has unveiled the names of the communities across Australia that are next in line to receive high-speed fibre optic broadband.

More than 1.35 million premises have been added to the rollout in the updated three-year plan. The plan adds almost 190 new towns and groups of suburbs, as well as more homes and businesses in areas covered by the previous plan.

This brings to 4.85 million the number of premises that will have construction commenced or where services can be ordered by June 2016.

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley says, “We’re getting on with the job of rolling out the NBN in every state and territory. Our plan is to deliver better broadband to every Australian over the remaining 8 years of this 10-year build.”

A growing number of Australians are already beginning to experience the benefits of high speed broadband.

In areas where the fibre network has been up and running for more than 12 months, around a third of eligible families have already purchased an NBN package.

“Furthermore, a third of people with an NBN fibre connection have subscribed to the fastest speeds available. And households in the NBN fibre footprint are downloading around 50% more data than the average Australian broadband user every month.”

“The NBN enables the whole family to go online without the internet slowing down. People can work from home as if they are in the office and make video calls to family and friends reliably,” Mike says.

“What’s more, the price of NBN packages is competitive, and NBN Co has made an ongoing commitment to reduce the wholesale cost of broadband in real terms.”

According to a recent study of the first release site in Brunswick, Melbourne, nearly half of existing NBN users polled said household internet costs were roughly the same since switching to the NBN, and 14% were paying less by using an internet phone service instead of a separate land line. Generally, those paying more were willing to do so to get higher speeds or larger download allowances.

The new locations were announced today at an event in Blacktown NSW to mark the connection of the first area of metropolitan Sydney to the NBN.