Tensions with telcos and network gaps to challenge NBN Co in 2021

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The national broadband network has sailed into the new year with a spring in its step, with the federal government declaring the $53 billion network is finally "built and fully operational". But its management should be under no illusion as to how arduous 2021 is likely to be.

Having taken over a decade to hit its target of making 11.86 million premises ready to receive broadband services over the NBN, the management team in charge of the network needs to crack on with connecting the homes that were put in the too hard basket.

That number currently stands at around 35,000 and there's also the issue of helping some 238,000 or so homes get the minimum 25 Mbps (megabits per second) speed that they are paying for but can't receive. Most of these under-served homes are on fibre-to-the-node connections that rely on copper rather than fibre for services.

As with all things NBN, the numbers need to be put in context and the overall number of premises with no or poor services makes up just over 2 per cent of the total footprint of the network. But 2 per cent of 11 million is still a pretty large number, and those missing out on fast internet speeds, especially during a pandemic, won't be shy in making a noise about it.

Using a mix of technologies to connect the homes to the network may have helped NBN Co meet its flexible construction timetable, but it has now left gaps in terms of the service many homes can receive.
Telstra, Optus and TPG also maintain they are paying NBN Co far too much for wholesale capacity. That's despite the discounts and cuts offered by NBN Co, but as long as the CVC charge, which covers the amount of bandwidth telcos can make available to customers, remains in place, the telcos won't stop agitating against it.
NBN Co and the federal government are unlikely to relent on CVC, but expect the telcos to ramp up the pressure on that front in 2021.


Tensions with telcos and network gaps to challenge NBN Co in 2021