The Australian Government has announced an AU$3 billion equity investment in the NBN to complete its Australia-wide upgrade of fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) connections to full, high-speed fiber (FTTP).
The equity investment – a type of investment where the government takes ownership of an entity in anticipation of a future return – is accompanied by an investment of AU$800 million from NBN Co. It is an extension of NBN Co’s fiber upgrade plan, which aims to improve speeds for all across the entire network.
Although the company stated that the initial build of the NBN was completed in 2020, these fiber upgrades are essential to improve the experience of internet users across the country served by less reliable copper-based NBN.
NBN Co claims these upgrades, which will see the remaining approx. 622,000 homes and businesses still on node-based NBN upgraded to allow for fiber to the premises will be completed by 2030 and that work has already begun. More than half of the homes and businesses that will be affected are located in regional Australia.
Full fibre, otherwise known as fiber to the premises (FTTP), is the fastest type of NBN connection and is less susceptible to dropouts and outages than FTTN.
95 percent of properties currently served by fiber to the node will be able to voluntarily upgrade to full fiber once work is completed in the home or business. As for the remaining five per cent, NBN Co will need to undertake further design work on a case-by-case basis to confirm suitable upgrades.
“This critical investment will deliver access to better broadband for customers in the remainder of our Fiber to the Node footprint,” NBN Co chief executive Ellie Sweeney said.
Yes, now is the time to upgrade your NBN connection
If you have access to NBN’s free fiber upgrade programme, you should definitely consider upgrading. High-speed plans are more available than ever from dozens of providers across the country, and the best way to experience them is with high-speed full fiber.
Full fiber is less susceptible to dropouts than fiber to the node, which relies on old copper lines to deliver your internet service. It’s faster and more consistent during peak internet traffic times (between 7pm and 11pm) and because it doesn’t rely on the same aging technology, it’s less likely to suffer from outages than the old copper systems.
At the time of writing, NBN Co is offering upgrades to full fiber in eligible homes across Australia. To get the upgrade, you need to order an NBN 100 compatible plan, or ‘Home Fast’ plan, from your NBN provider and coordinate the upgrade with them. This plan will be upgraded in September to be 500Mbps capable (and we’ll probably have to colloquially rename it ‘NBN 500’), giving you a much faster network experience at home.
To get the ball rolling, here are our top picks right now for both NBN 100 and NBN 1000. The former is perfect for upgrading to full fiber for the first time, while the latter is best for achieving high speeds at an attractive price.
