No new households have been added to the NBNCo's fibre network in Western Australia or the Northern Territory during the last 19 months due to a ''range of issues'' with a contractor, a Senate committee has heard.
Only a small number of households have been added to the network in South Australia because of the same problem.
NBNCo says on its website that 12 months should be the average time taken from construction beginning to families being able to connect to the NBN.
At Tuesday night's Senate estimates hearing the Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham asked the chief executive office of NBNCo, Mike Quigley, if, ''19 months after work first commenced, are any premises able to access a connection?''
''In Western Australia, no,'' Mr Quigley said.
''In South Australia?''
''There are some premises''.
''Northern Territory?''
''Not at this time''.
Mr Quigley blamed the delays on NBNCo's contractor, Syntheo, which was ''ramping up and obviously facing some challenges''.
''We are working with them to try and overcome those,'' he said.
Shadow Minister for Broadband and Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, said the NBN was in ''utter disarray'' in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Mr Turnbull also attacked the NBNCo for refusing to give "granular detail" on the rollout – such as its progress in each state.
Both Mr Quigley and the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, emphasised that in spite of the construction delays in some states, the NBN rollout would still meet its targets.
Responding to Liberal Senators' claims that the NBNCo was dodging questions of detail, Senator Conroy said there was ''a whole range of information being pulled together not currently provided for''.
''Believe me,'' he said, ''by the time you get to the next estimates you'll be drowning in information''.