More than a million NBN customers are now enjoying faster speeds

The number of Australian homes and businesses connecting to higher speeds on the NBN have more than doubled in the past four months thanks to lower prices and a 50 per cent boost of additional bandwidth.

More than a million people have upgraded their internet speeds since the start of 2018 thanks to wholesale pricing changes which allowed customers to move up to the 50Mbps speed tier at no additional cost.

And the good news is there are more wholesale deals on the way starting next month that will deliver even better value and flexibility for customers.

These changes will also encourage internet providers to reduce bandwidth congestion and sell higher speed plans.

NBN has also released its latest monthly report card (see below) for March which shows an improvement in nearly all areas.

“Three months ago, we had less than one in 15 users connected to our ‘sweet spot’ wholesale 50Mbps plans – today we have more than one in four signed-up to them for better value than what they would have previously been paying,” says NBN Co’s chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb.

“Not only are more people starting to experience the benefits of connecting to high speed plans but our work with industry continues to deliver a world class network performance as the average network bandwidth congestion per Australian home is consistently sitting below 30 minutes per week compared with more than six hours per week this time last year.

“Our insights indicate people who have connected to higher speed plans are now happier with their experience and are able to better enjoy the benefits of fast broadband such as streaming using multiple devices, working from home and access to online education resources.

The NBN rollout has now reached more than 3.7 million homes and businesses and is on track to reach eight million by the end of 2020.

Here is NBN Co’s monthly progress report for March:

Ready to connect – More than 6.5 million Australian homes and businesses were able to connect to the NBNaccess network – compared with 4.5 million in March 2017.

Connected homes and businesses – 3.7 million homes and businesses connected to a plan over the NBNaccess network – compared with 2 million in March 2017.

Installed right the first time –87 per cent of homes and businesses had their NBNequipment installed right the first time – compared with 85 per cent in March 2017.

Meeting agreed installation times – 92 per cent of homes and businesses were connected within the agreed timeframes with phone and internet providers – compared with 88 per cent in March 2017.

Average network bandwidth congestion – The average home or business connected to the NBNaccess network is now experiencing around 18 minutes per week of bandwidth congestion – compared with 6 hours and 55 minutes per week in March 2017.

Fixed Line Congestion – 0.068 per cent of all homes and businesses connected to the NBNFixed Line access network who have experienced network congestion – compared with 0.370 per cent in March 2017.

Uptake to higher wholesale plans – 37 per cent of homes and businesses are on a 50Mbps (download) wholesale speed plan or higher – compared with 16 per cent in March 2017.

Network availability – NBNaccess network was up and running more than 99.93 per cent of the time – compared to 100.00 per cent in March 2017.

Meeting agreed fault restoration time – 83 per cent of faults resolved with phone and internet providers within the agreed time frames – compared to 65 per cent in March 2017.

Faults per 100 connected homes and businesses –An average 1.0 per 100 homes and business who experienced a fault on the NBNthis month – compared to 0.9 in March 2017.