Australian communication consumer Action Network (ACCAN) urges NBN Co to scrape NBN 25, the company’s entrance level Broadband speed level and replace it with faster NBN 50.
In a submission to NBN CO’s application module application from 2025, a routine paper that seeks to put suggestions and changes during the next regulatory cycle (from FY26 to FY29), Accan was cut for 25 MBPS connections, requiring a medium-term plan from NBN CO to upgrade NBN 25 to NBN 50.
Note that a minimum service level of 25/5 Mbps is required by the Australian Government as an obligation for NBN throughout Australia, Accan wrote that it “does not consider 25/5 as a fixed speed and recommends raising NBN’s Entry-Level offer to 50/20 MBPS service ”.
“In Accan’s view, increased internet speeds for consumers mean to raise the baseline quality of service that all Australian consumers can access. While there is certainly the capacity to invest in faster Internet speeds at Gigabit level and above, Accan NBN Co warns against pursuing this as a model of cost recovery, as most Australian consumers are likely to increase their household expenses at> 2 GBPs speeds for the marginal advantage. “
In the NBN CO’s consultation document, the company said the speed of 25 Mbps continues to be exemplary as an entry level. In the meantime, it remains obliged to improve speeds and upgrade its network.
In January, NBN Co announced that it wants the last homes serviced by fiber to the node to be upgraded to FTTP in 2030 and that September will come, there is a maximum speed plans of 100 Mbps to offer maximum theoretical speeds on 500 Mbps. At the same time, 2,000 Mbps plans will become available, which Accan will remain critical of, saying that there is insufficient justification for such quick plans. These speeds can only be achieved on the full fiber of the company, and thus upgrades.
Should NBN 25 be replaced by NBN 50?
At the time of writing, it would require a subtle adjustment of a subtle adjustment of speed levels that change the fixed line base from NBN 25 to NBN 50. As the mandated speed at the entry level, NBN 25 is enforced much cheaper than other levels and can only increase in price Each financial year “with the largest of the annual percentage change in CPI or up to 5%,” according to NBN Co. The Entry-Level setting is set to become more strictly price under the special access card, with costs unable to rise “by more than the percentage change in CPI each financial year.”
However, NBN Co has said that there are rules that go against making NBN 50 the cheapest offer. As put in NBN CO’s consultation document, an offer on Entry-Level must fit specific criteria: The service has been offered for more than 24 months, is reasonably considered by NBN CO to be NBN’s Entry-Level Service and has a maximum download speed it is lower than the most ordered speed group. Since the NBN 50 is the most popular speed level in operation, NBN Co has outlined what it means quite briefly:
“The 50/20 Mbps Speed Tier Group is the most ordered TC-4-speed level group at the time of publication of this paper and is expected to be the most ordered TC-4 speed level for FY25. This would mean that an offer at the input level must be either 12/1 Mbps or 25/5 Mbps Speed Tier on each of the NBN-Fast-Line and fixed wireless networks as this is the only TC-4 speed levels that Has a maximum download speed less than 50 Mbps and has been delivered for 24 months per day. July 1, 2026. “
Previously, the NBN was 12/5 input level, but it was grandfather from this role in 2023 in recognition of growing competition and that it no longer sufficiently met consumer demand.
Accan believes that by recognizing that NBN Co wants to increase customers on the NBN 100 to 65% at the end of FY2029, steps must be taken to upgrade the entry-level speed.
“Accan is concerned that NBN Co’s current approach will anchor a two-layer digital gap among Australian households. We therefore recommend that NBN Co reconsider its current approach to expanding higher speeds for all service levels, ”wrote the lawyer organization.
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