TOURIST towns Bright and Porepunkah are the latest locations in Indi to be connected to the National Broadband Network with 99 per cent of the electorate having coverage in the rollout which commenced nearly a decade ago.
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Federal communications minister Mitch Fifield travelled to Bright yesterday for the milestone with one of the town's most prominent businesses already making the switch.
Bright Brewery owner Scott Brandon said NBN coverage would make functions of his business including video-conferencing much easier.
He said the brewery established a production facility in the town's industrial park, but encountered connectivity issues between the brewery site in the middle of Bright.
"Communication between those two sites has been problematic to the point where we've just had to drive down the road to actually get the internet to work," Mr Brandon said.
"The business was a lot simpler when we started out.
"But as we've been growing there has been a lot more demand for web-based and internet services.
"It should make our administrative and brewing processes a bit more seamless.
"We also see it as a big plus for the town in enabling more businesses that work on the internet to enjoy that tree-change lifestyle.
"People move here for the lifestyle just as I did."
Mr Brandon founded the Bright Brewery 14 years ago.
Senator Fifield said Indi had benefited from the government's prioritising the NBN rollout to regional areas.
"The electorate of Indi is 99 per cent complete," he said.
"Part of the reason for that is we deliberately front-ended the rollout of the NBN in rural and regional Australia.
"Historically the regions haven't had the same connectivity as cities.
"It was right and proper."
Senator Fifield estimated the NBN would be fully rolled out six to eight years sooner than the Labor alternative and would cost $30 billion less.
Liberal Indi candidate Steve Martin estimated more than 2100 premises in Bright and Porepunkah could tap into the NBN, but conceded upgrades in some places were needed to meet demand.
"As I've been travelling around, communications is a big issue," he said.
"This is a really important step.
"But there are still plenty of plans about upgrades to the fixed wireless network and in particular plans around fixed wireless and sky muster to enable businesses to have their needs met around speed and also the amount of data."
