In a major backflip the federal government has announced a dramatically increased number of towns in the Shoalhaven will get the National Broadband network fibre optic cable.

Gilmore MP Jo Gash says the initial plan was to roll  the NBN into any town with more than a thousand people, then the rules changed and the town had to have more than a thousand homes.

Now the office of Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has released a list of more than 20 Shoalhaven towns and villages, where fibre optic cable will be rolled out.

Towns with less than a thousand homes to get the NBN include Tomerong, Tapitallee, Currarong, Kings Point, Burrill Lake and Greenwell Point.

Mrs Gash says she can not work out how places like Currarong with only 197 occupied houses can justify the cost of fibre optic connections, but she is not complaining.

Two surprises not included on the latest list are Cambewarra and Kangaroo Valley.

The full list of Shoalhaven towns and villages is as follows.

Basin View, Bawley Point, Berry, Berrara, Burrill Lake, Callala Bay, Culburra Orient Point, Cunjurong, Currarong, Erowal Bay, Fisherman’s Paradise, Gerringong, Greenwell Point, Huskisson, Kings Point, Kioloa, Milton, Nowra-Bomaderry, Old Erowal Bay, Shoalhaven Heads, Sussex Inlet, St Georges Basin-Sanctuary Point,Sussex Inlet, Tapitallee, Tomerong and Ulladulla