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Broadband speeds are set to skyrocket for some nine million Australians, with NBN Co launching a proposal to make its most popular plan five-times faster at no extra cost amid an explosion in demand for data.
In a move the company says is to meet unprecedented usage of high-definition streaming and remote work, NBN Co announced plans to raise its 100/20 Mbps Home Fast product to 500/50 Mbps and triple its Home Superfast product from 250/25 Mbps to 750/50 Mbps.
NBN Co chief Stephen Rue. The company is in the midst of a multi-year project to eliminate ageing copper infrastructure and replace it with fibre.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The accelerated speeds would be made available by the end of the year and apply to the 9 million broadband customers who have access to a fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) or hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) NBN connection, which is the majority of Australians. Customers served by other technologies would also have the ability to upgrade.
Critically, the accelerated speeds would come at no added wholesale cost to retailers, and therefore likely no extra cost to consumers. The move could signal an end to the ongoing “price wars” between NBN Co and retailers like Telstra, Optus and TPG, who have been at odds for years on pricing and access terms.
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The NBN has long also served as a political football, with the Coalition government under Tony Abbott scrapping Labor’s full-fibre rollout in 2013 in favour of a cheaper mix of technologies. Abbott said at the time, “[we] are absolutely confident that 25 megs is going to be enough, more than enough, for the average household.”
The network build is effectively now complete, with the focus shifting towards speed upgrades. The company is in the midst of a multi-year project to eliminate ageing copper infrastructure and replace it with fibre.
Broadband retailers have until April 19 to comment on the proposals.
Data demand and usage has doubled in the last five years, with the average household now consuming 443 gigabytes per month across 22 devices, with the likes of Fortnite, Netflix and Stan fuelling demand. NBN Co expects this to grow to 40 devices per household by the end of the decade.
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