NBN Co has revealed that Australians are increasingly finding its fixed-line broadband services are not worth the money.
These are the results of a massive ongoing survey that NBN Co has ran over the past six years. It shows a clear decline in the value-for-money that Aussie customers feel NBN’s fixed-line services provide.
In addition, NBN Co said that, as of last month, “approximately 2.9 million (or 26 per cent) of about 10.4 million residential premises are connected to a competing non-NBN broadband network.”
Of these non-NBN customers, 83 per cent “are connected to a fixed wireless network or use a mobile device alone which underscores the current substitutability of, and growing competitive pressure exerted by, these services.”
NBN has long argued that 5G providers should be treated as a competitor to the NBN and subject to the same broadband tax.
It points to its fibre-to-the-basement (FTTB) network, which serves apartment blocks.
“Take-up of NBN Co’s FTTB service is not ubiquitous and is instead about 41 percent in MDUs in which NBN Co believes it is the only FTTB provider,” the company said.
“This is a clear indication that fixed wireless (e.g., 4G or 5G service via a fixed modem in a premises) or mobile broadband (e.g., via ‘traditional’ wi-fi dongle or pocket wi-fii) services are a substitute for NBN services for end-users in MDUs.
“These services are a competitive constraint on NBN Co.”
NBN even claimed that apartment block landlords might be taking deals with “encourage end-user preferencing of rival services over competing NBN FTTB services.”
This all puts NBN Co at an unfair competitive advantage.
“The extent of competition and substitution risk outlined mean that NBN Co faces substantial revenue sufficiency risk,” it claims.
“The consequence of this is that NBN Co faces the risk of being unable to generate sufficient cashflows to sustain its business and continue to invest in the network to meet its policy obligations and the needs of end users.”
