278 Int. J. Critical Infrastructures, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2015 Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. The spatial justice implications of telecommunication infrastructure: the socio-economic status of early national broadband network rollout in Australia Tooran Alizadeh Griffith School of Environment, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia Email: t.alizadeh@griffith.edu.au Abstract: Since the formation of the Australian National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co.) in April 2009, the NBN rollout has been gradually announced following a range of engineering and logistic criteria. However, the early rollout gives the release sites a regional competitive advantage against other localities that might have to wait up to a decade to receive similar infrastructure. This leads to an important question about the socio-economic status of the NBN release sites, and the potential impact of the upcoming broadband infrastructure on the social discrepancy across the nation. The answer to this question then leads to a second question about the degree to which the NBN or any telecommunication infrastructure for that matter should be incorporated in planning and policy development for spatial justice. In an attempt to explore these questions, this paper examines the ranking of the 60 earlier NBN release sites in the socio-economic indexes for area, and accessibility/remoteness index of Australia. Findings are in line with the recent research that emphasises the role of infrastructure in intensifying social divisions. Keywords: national broadband network; NBN; Australia; socio-economic status; rollout plan; telecommunication infrastructure; spatial justice. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Alizadeh, T. (2015) ‘The spatial justice implications of telecommunication infrastructure: the socio-economic status of early national broadband network rollout in Australia’, Int. J. Critical Infrastructures, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.278–296. Biographical notes: Tooran Alizadeh is a Lecturer in the School of Environment, Urban and Environmental Planning Discipline, Griffith University, Australia. Over the last few years, she has researched policy and planning implications of telecommunications with a focus on the Australian national broadband network (NBN), digital economic strategies and telework. She has investigated how telecommunication infrastructure relates to the wider current planning issues including debates around planning across borders, planning after petroleum and social justice. She also has several years of professional design and planning practice experience working on different scales of urban projects from strategic metropolitan planning to new town developments. This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Towards the socio-economic patterns of the national broadband network rollout in Australia’ presented at the State of Australian Cities National Conference, Sydney, Australia, 26–29 November.