NBN Co has reported revenues of $5.27 billion for FY23, up 3% on the prior year and despite being under pressure from Elan Musk’s Starlink satellite offering in rural Australia, they have also announced further bank borrowings and an expansion of their fibre offering.
The latest earnings represent a 15% lift with more than 8.5 million homes and businesses now connected to their network.
NBN management claim that the strong result was due to a combination of increased activations and improved Residential Average Revenue Per User after the business increased the cost of getting access to their network. (EBITDA) was up 15% to $3.59 billion, NBN also raised $5.69 billion in bank and capital markets debt during the period.
To date, the company has repaid $14 billion of the $19.5 billion Commonwealth loan, reducing the outstanding balance to $5.5 billion.
The company’s net activations increased by approximately 43,000 premises in FY23 to take the total number of residential and business premises connected to services over the nbn® network to approximately 8.56 million.
The business is also expanding their fibre offering while extending their fixed wireless and satellite coverage. capabilities.
The increase in revenue was primarily due to increased activations, particularly in the residential segment, and improved Residential Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of $47 as the proportion of customers adopting 100 Mbps and above wholesale download speed tiers continues to grow. Business revenue has also grown by 8 per cent to $1.1 billion. Approximately 8.56 million homes and businesses are now connected to the nbn® network.
Capital expenditure in the 12 months to 30 June 2023 was $3.04 billion.
The company continued to invest in upgrades to their network, pushing fibre deeper into communities, improving and extending fixed wireless coverage and satellite capabilities for a more reliable and secure network.
NBN Co Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Rue, said: “NBN Co has met the key performance metrics and full year guidance as set out in the Corporate Plan 2023.
“Our responsible and sustainable financial growth, alongside prudent investments to extend the reach of fibre, fixed wireless, and satellite capabilities, has meant the nbn® network continues to play an essential role for communities across Australia.
He added “Sustainable long-term pricing will underpin future investments in the nbn network to ensure we continue to serve and keep pace with the nation’s digital needs.”
He claims that NBN Co remains on track to enable up to 10 million premises, or up to 90 per cent of homes and businesses across the fixed line network, to access nbn Home Ultrafast, offering wholesale download speeds of 500 Mbps up to close to 1 Gbps, by the end of 2025.
Following upgrades to the Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) network undertaken in the previous financial year, some 2.5 million premises now have access to nbn® Home Ultrafast.4