The fastest NBN plans won't get a speed boost until September next year

Alex Choros - Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor

Last updated 05 September 2024

NBN Co has delayed its proposed speed upgrades for NBN 100 and up plans until September 14 next year. The network builder was initially hoping to roll the changes out by the end of the year, but seemingly pushed back the date following consultation and feedback from NBN providers.

WhistleOut understands that providers had concerns around the cost of hardware upgrades needed to reliably deliver faster NBN plans to consumers. Upgrading the network equipment at each NBN Point of Interconnect could cost each provider as much as $10 million (if not more) according to industry sources.

Only providers who have their own equipment at Points of Interconnect - such as Telstra, Optus, Aussie Broadband, TPG, Vocus, and Superloop - would need to upgrade equipment. Smaller providers tend to buy wholesale plans from one of the aforementioned telcos and then sell them to their customers.

As part of the speed boost, NBN 100 plans will be upgraded to maximum speeds of 500Mbps and NBN 250 plans to 750Mbps. NBN 1000 plans will still be limited to 1,000Mbps, but get double the upload speed at 100Mbps.

These speed boosts will only apply to customers on FTTP and HFC connection types.

The proposed NBN 2000 speed tier will also become available in September 2025. These plans will be able to achieve download speeds of up to 2,000Mbps, and will be available to those with FTTP and HFC addresses.

Upload speeds will be faster for NBN 2000 customers on FTTP, however. HFC customers will be able to get upload speeds of up to 100Mbps on an NBN 2000 plan, while FTTP customers will be achieve up to 200Mbps. NBN 2000 plans will have a wholesale price of $115 per month, which is about $40 per month more expensive than what a provider pays for an NBN 1000 plan. As such, it seems likely NBN 2000 plans will cost somewhere between $150 and $200 per month.

While hardware upgrades will be needed to reliably deliver these faster plans, NBN Co won’t be increasingly wholesale pricing for NBN 100, NBN 250, or NBN 1000 plans. Providers will however also need to purchase additional network-to-network interface (NNI) capacity or backhaul capacity.

NNI is effectively the connection back to the NBN, whereas backhaul typically refers to the connection between a telco and the wider internet. To avoid congestion, a telco would need enough backhaul that matches the capacity they purchase on the NBN. Some telcos, like Aussie Broadband, own their own infrastructure, which allows them to cut down on this cost. Others need to purchase connectivity through a larger provider.

Backhaul is more affordable than what NBN used to charge for capacity, but more customers on faster plans could see providers need to invest a lot more. This, in turn, could increase prices for customers.

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Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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