Telstra and Optus add new NBN 50 plans following NBN price shakeup

Alex Choros - Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor

Last updated 10 January 2018

Telstra and Optus have both refreshed their NBN offering with new NBN 50 plans off the back of the network builder's wholesale pricing shakeup at the end of last year.

In attempt to position NBN 50 as its flagship product, NBN Co cut the wholesale price of fixed-line NBN 50 plans to match NBN 25 plans. While many ISPs jumped on the promotion immediately - including TPG, iiNet, and Internode - big players such as Telstra and Optus lagged behind.

Rather than following the TPG group's lead and axing its NBN 25 plans, Optus has instead introduced a new NBN 50 speed pack. This is charged at $95 per month - $15 more than its standard NBN 25 offering - but customers will have the difference refunded for the first six-months of their contract if they sign up before the end of April.

All Fixed Line nbn®

Optus Basic nbn®

All Fixed Line nbn®

nbn® 25/8 Mbps
Unlimited Data
Deal: $68/mth for a year, then $83/mth or as notified. New services. Incl intro offer + extra $5/mth off. Min cost $374. Ends 6/10.

$68/mth

Min. cost $68

Link not supplied

$68/mth

Min. cost $68

Link not supplied

Telstra's been a bit more generous, and has made NBN 50 the standard speed for all of its 24-month contracts worth at least $80 per month. Customers will continue to receive this speed for the life of their contract (unless they choose to change speed tier). Upgrading to NBN 100 will still be billed at an extra $30 per month.

If you're connecting to the NBN over FTTN or FTTB, Telstra will need to confirm your NBN service is capable of the maximum speed before upgrading to NBN 100.

Essential Internet Only Plan (Fixed Wireless)

nbn® Wireless 68/7 Mbps
Unlimited Data
Deal: Get 50% off any home nbn plan for 2 months. Add code PROMO at checkout. Ends 05.10.26. T&Cs apply.

$99/mth

Min. cost $49.50

Link not supplied

$99/mth

Min. cost $49.50

Link not supplied

The Telstra speed bump doesn't apply to month-to-month plans (which are still configured on NBN 25 out of the box), presumably due to the fact the discounted NBN 50 pricing is a temporary transitional offer designed to bridge current wholesale pricing and upcoming wholesale bundles for NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans that include both network access and network capacity.

At present, NBN resellers pay these as two separate charges: AVC for network access, and CVC for network capacity.

NBN Co says the upcoming bundles will include nearly double the average capacity being purchased by retailers across fixed-line NBN services. This should result in less congestion during peak usage hours, which, in turn, would mean subscribers seeing the speeds they're paying for more consistently.

These bundles should also represent a discount for ISPs; NBN Co says the NBN 50 bundle with 2Mbps of CVC will be 27% cheaper than current wholesale pricing, while the NBN 100 bundle with 2.5Mbps of capacity will be 10% cheaper than current wholesale pricing. Additional network capacity is also getting a discount from $14 per 1Mbps (excluding volume based discounts) to $8.

This pricing will come into effect in the second quarter of this year.

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.

Read full bio