Internode is one of the first broadband companies in Australia to provide its customers with access to the benefits of the NBN including 100 megabits per second downstream speeds. Internode connected its first customers to the NBN in Tasmania in the middle of last year.

Internode’s first two mainland NBN customers are IT professionals Stephen Stroud and Owen Hedger, who both endorse the NBN as a great benefit for businesses in regional communities such as Armidale.

Mr. Stroud, an IT manager who has been an Internode customer for more than eight years, said the NBN was one of the best things that had ever happened for business, especially in regional areas. "For business, the NBN is going to be an absolutely boon - it’s phenomenal," he said.

"Back in the old days, we needed three ISDN lines, with a combined capacity of 384 kilobits per second, to run a videoconference - which was fine as long as we didn’t have too many people and no one moved much. Now, with 100 meg down and 40 meg up, everyone can move and talk to each other in a great quality videoconference using a service like Skype. All you need is the right equipment at each end."

"That's phenomenal for anyone trying to run a business, particularly in regional Australia. That quality of communication allows people to become much more productive."

Mr. Stroud said the NBN-delivered broadband service was much faster and smoother than his ADSL service. "Online video is much smoother - it’s like your TV, you turn it on and it’s running," he said.

"Instead of taking 10 minutes to watch a video on YouTube - half of which is delays caused by the video stream buffering - the NBN lets you watch it in real time in just five minutes. When it’s a training video, this allows you to understand it a lot better, which makes you more likely to use it."

Owen Hedger, who works at an Armidale computer repair store, agreed that the NBN offered huge benefits for businesses. "The thing I’m most excited about is what it means for business," he said.

"I used our NBN service to gain remote access to work from home and it was more like being on the LAN (Local Area Network) than using the Internet. For a business with multiple offices across a region, that sort of communication could be a real cost saver and a big boost to productivity."

Internode managing director Simon Hackett, who is in Armidale for the NBN’s mainland launch, said the event represented another important milestone for the National Broadband Network. "Internode is pleased to be one of the first companies to connect customers to the NBN on the mainland," he said.

"The NBN is a long game, but Internode is committed to being first with the NBN in every new area that it rolls out. Today’s launch at Armidale is an important first step of that journey on mainland Australia."