NBN Co has published its half-yearly financial and operational results for the six months to 31 December 2025, and on the whole things are looking positive for the country’s major broadband provider.
One of the standout figures is the 287,000 premises that were upgraded from aging copper-based infrastructure technologies to a newer and faster fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connection. This free upgrade to ‘full fibre’ is required if you want to connect to the fastest NBN plans.
Looking the other way
While these numbers are impressive, what they don’t explicitly highlight is the number of Australian premises that are stubbornly sticking (or stuck) with outdated connection technologies – and therefore haven’t taken advantage of the NBN speed upgrades that NBN Co launched in September 2025.
NBN Co claims there are currently 8.647 million active connections. Remove the 2.99 million connecting via FTTP, around 2 million on HFC and around 400,000 on fixed wireless technologies and you are still left with 3 million premises connecting via an older, inferior technology.
As TechRadar Australia’s resident broadband expert, I can honestly say that I’m somewhat baffled by that statistic.
No reason not to upgrade?
The easiest reason to activate the fiber upgrade is that it is completely free. All you need to do is sign up to a supporting NBN provider and order a plan that offers at least 500Mbps download speeds.
Previously, ordering a plan offering 100Mbps was a requirement, but following NBN Co’s rollout of upgraded speed tiers in late 2025, this has now changed – 100Mbps plans are no longer available for FTTP connections, having been replaced by 500Mbps, usually at exactly the same price.
Second, and perhaps obviously, you’ll benefit from much faster download speeds. NBN Co added in its half-year results that the average monthly data download per premises now stands at 557 GB, and for FTTP premises this figure rises to 668 GB. I reckon the latter is higher because homes connecting via FTTP will find they have a strong, stable and fast internet connection – in other words, one that’s more usable, with no buffering when trying to download large files or stream 4K content.
And finally, the second good reason to upgrade is that you future-proof your home. Although I was a little surprised when NBN Co announced it would be rolling out upgraded speed tiers in 2025, it has now set a precedent that I would expect to see repeated in the future. Although we can only speculate at this stage, it is entirely possible that we could see five or even 10 Gbps download speeds within the next 10 years. To get them, you need a full fiber connection – and of course a Wi-Fi router that can deliver those speeds around your home.
Ok, you sold it to me. What do I do now?
If you’re ready to upgrade, the first thing you need to do is find a suitable 500 Mbps plan from a provider that participates in the free upgrade program. It could very well be your current provider, but I would strongly recommend shopping around to see what discounts are available.
You can see my guide to the best internet deals for the latest deals – some providers like Dodo, Optus and Kogan Internet currently offer 12 month discounts so you can lock in a low price for a whole year. (Alternatively, you can see the current most popular NBN 500 plans in the price comparison tool below.)
With your provider selected, simply enter your address and you’ll be told if your home qualifies for the free upgrade. If it is, choose the plan you want to sign up for – 500Mbps or above – and your provider will take care of the rest.
You will be contacted by NBN Co who will arrange a time for a technician to come and install the necessary equipment. Once it’s installed, your provider should contact you to let you know the installation was successful and they’ll switch the switch on your new plan.
