NBN delivers record fast speeds

The ACCC has released its quarterly Measuring Broadband Australia report, which reveals that the National Broadband Network (NBN) has delivered record fast speeds during the coronavirus pandemic:

Consumers are benefiting from faster download speeds, as retail service providers now deliver on average more than 94 per cent of plan speed in the busy evening with some monitored services regularly achieving higher speeds than expected by consumers…

“Speeds in the October test period were the highest we have seen for all monitored RSPs since the start of the MBA program,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said…

“NBN Co’s decision to temporarily waive charges for up to 40 per cent extra capacity for RSPs in the form of increased connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) has played a key role in supporting broadband speeds during the pandemic,” Mr Sims said…

“We had been concerned that consumers haven’t experienced full use of their plan speed even outside busy hours for some time now, so it is good to see the MBA’s transparency measures showcasing the faster broadband speeds available to consumers during these difficult times,” Mr Sims said…

However, fibre to the node (FTTN) connections continue to lag behind:

The results show that consumers on FTTN connections who are paying for high speed 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps plans received around 10 and 20 per cent lower speeds than the maximum plan speed respectively, at any given time.

“Although most consumers have already benefited from increased download speeds, those on FTTN connections are continuing to experience lower than expected speeds.

These are pleasing results in light of the massive surge in broadband demand as Australians worked from home, alongside the explosive growth in usage of streaming services.