Smaller broadband providers are continuing to increase NBN wholesale market share, nudging into the territory of the big three.
This is according to ACCC’s latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report, which covers the September quarter.
The report looks at the wholesale market for NBN services, particularly the residential broadband services that retailers purchase from NBN Co for resale to consumers.
During the three-month period, the number of overall NBN residential services increased by 0.2 per cent (equalling almost 17,000 users), to more than 8.73 million services.
However, the number of NBN residential services with Telstra, TPG, Optus and Vocus decreased by over 123,000 in the September quarter, a combine 1.6 per cent of the market lost to smaller player.
Telstra experienced the largest fall in market share, down 0.6 percentage points to 42.7 per cent.
TPG dropped 0.3 percentage points to 22.8 per cent; Optus fell 0.4 percentage points to 13.4 per cent; and Vocus are down 0.4 percentage points to 6.9 per cent.
The smaller telcos gained over 140,000 services in the three months, with a combined market share of 14.2 per cent, up from the 12.6 per cent they held in the June quarter.
Aussie Broadband and Superloop scored the biggest increased, both up by 0.3 per cent.
“The rate at which smaller broadband providers are gaining market share from the big four accelerated markedly in the September quarter. The smaller providers increased their combined market share by 1.6 percentage points, which is about double the rate of the previous three quarters,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
“We expect smaller broadband providers will continue to improve their competitiveness by providing services at more points of interconnection on the NBN,” Brakey said.
She also urges broadband users, especially those with a heavy usage load, to continue to shop around.
“Many consumers are continuing to make use of flexible working from home arrangements, which often require high-data usage such as video communications.
“Consumers can get better value for money from their broadband by choosing plans that closely match their download and upload speed needs.”
