The company announced on Monday new construction work would begin in Epsom, Heathcote, Maiden Gully and Eaglehawk by the end of the year, with services available within nine months of the start of works.

NBN Co’s Kasey Ellison said residents and businesses across Bendigo were now a step closer to enjoying the benefits of fast broadband, including improved access to e-health resources, online education, teleworking opportunities and improved online entertainment options.

“With the national rollout now at the halfway mark, our team will continue to ramp up work to build the network to help meet the demand in the Bendigo region,” she said.

“The rollout of the NBN network is one of the most complex and ambitious initiatives to be undertaken in any market across the world.

“We’re building a nationwide network that has the ability to deliver wholesale speeds which are currently around eight times faster than the majority of Australia’s existing broadband services.”

But the Eaglehawk Business and Community Network’s Laurie Fitzgerald said his own address wasn’t listed for connection to the NBN until 2020 and residents were resigned to coming in at the “tail end” of the rollout.

“Hopefully I can still stay on ADSL [in the meantime] which satisfies my requirement’s at the moment,” he said.

“But obviiously having faster speeds would be more convenient because there are times when my system is buffering rather than connecting directly.”

Ms Ellison urged customers in Bendigo to speak with their preferred retail service provider to discuss a speed and data plan which suited their needs to ensure they had the best possible internet experience.

“Speeds experienced over the NBN network are influenced by a range of factors such as the technology used to deliver the network as well as equipment quality, broadband plans, signal reception and the age of the smart devices being used to connect to the internet,” she said.