The Australian government today announced that around 12,000 homes in regional and urban Australia would be hooked up to a trial of the National Broadband Network early next year.

The homes as part of the trial should be able to access high speed broadband around 100MB per second using the same fibre network technology that will be used as part of the national network.

The trials will allow network planners to see how the network will perform in action and identify issues and areas for further improvement before the roll-out of the national network gets underway.

The sites announced include homes with Brunswick in Melbourne, Townsville and the rural town of Willunga in South Australia.

The program will be the largest infrastructure building project in Australian history and is designed to bring Australia up to speed with fast broadband to 90% of homes. Some critics argue that 100MB per second is already normal in many parts of the world and that this broadband speed level may be out of date before the network launches. It is possible that the performance of the network will be ramped up over time as a result of the trials and new technology.