Also announced are the first nbn connections to be available, also in South Australia, to residents of the small Adelaide Hills town of Mount Barker.

The Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield jointly announced the nbn connections for St Marys with the Liberal candidate for Boothby  Nicolle Flint.

The Mt Barker announcement was jointly announced by the Minister and Liberal Member for Mayo Jamie Briggs.

Flint said “around 2,800 home owners and businesses in Boothby can now place an order with their preferred service provider and experience the benefits of the nbn’s high-speed broadband for themselves.”

According to Flint, an additional 19,770 premises are scheduled to be switched on in coming months in the St Marys local area, using a combination of technologies.

She said nbn network construction is also underway to a further 28,200 premises in the Boothby electorate, with approximately 52,000 homes and businesses in total set to be covered between now and 2018.

Minister Fifield said superfast broadband in Mayo would provide the “infrastructure for the future of education, business and health services”. Minister Fifield said.

MP for Mayo, Jamie Briggs said “It’s an exciting time for residents in Mayo with an additional 12,400 homes and businesses across parts of Mount Barker, Hahndorf, Oakbank, Verdun, Balhannah, Nairne, Blakiston and Littlehampton set to be able to access the nbn’s superfast fixed-line broadband over the coming two months.”

Connections across Mount Barker and surrounding areas will become available on a rolling basis throughout the next two months, beginning with parts of Mount Barker, where residents will be able to order an nbn service from next Friday, 29 April.

It typically takes around two weeks to connect up to the nbn after placing an order and Briggs said all residents will require a new modem from a retailer that is compatible with the faster nbn service.

Briggs said Mount Barker, Hahndorf, Oakbank, Verdun, Balhannah, Nairne, Blakiston and Littlehampton will be provided access to the nbn via Fibre to the Node (FTTN) technology, with these fixed line connections providing much improved speeds and reliability compared to current services.

Minister Fifield says around 126,000 home owners and businesses across South Australia are now able to order an nbn service, and more than 56,000 homes and businesses are already connected to the nbn.

The Minister restated the federal government’s previous statements that “under the previous Labor Government, the nbn was a mess, and there were only 813 premises connected to the nbn in brownfield areas across the whole of South Australia at the time of the 2013 election.

“Under the Turnbull Coalition Government, the nbn is on-track to meet its rollout forecasts and the network is due to be completed nationally in 2020,” the Minister said.