By Rhiannon Zanetic

The ongoing political debate, over the speed required to satisfy users of the proposed national broadband network has thickened, with infrastructure provider Nextgen Networks saying it will service regional areas with rates of 100 gigabits per second, according to the Financial Review (FR).

The company will in Melbourne today demonstrate the technology it claims will increase data carriage speeds by roughly ten times the current industry standard for fibre optic backhaul.

The demonstration takes place as the Labor party continues its attempt to persuade the independent MPs that while the $43 billion plan is far more costly than that of the Coalition’s $6 billion plan, it will serve the needs of Australians well into future years.

Nextgen chief executive Phil Sykes said that while the significant speed boost was welcome, the real breakthrough concerned the internet protocol packets, the base unit of data, could be modified and sorted at the same speed they are carried down a pipe.

“That’s not been done before at the 100 gigabit per second level. We can see it delivering great benefits to rural [and] regional Australia as well as interconnecting capital cities,” Sykes said.