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More Aussie apartments to get high-speed fibre
NBN will enter into Area Switch Agreements with corporate bodies to deliver high-speed fibre to some 700,000 apartments across Australia
About 700,000 apartments in 50,000 strata buildings across Australia will become ready to be connected to NBN’s fastest home internet over the next six months, paving the way for more Australians to enjoy download speeds of up to 1Gbps.
The fibre upgrade programme supports NBN’s objective to deliver its highest residential wholesale speed tiers to 90% of its fixed line footprint by the end of 2025, as more property buyers and renters consider fibre internet connectivity in their property decisions.
According to NBN’s research, renters, on average, are willing to pay an additional A$540 per year for a property connected to fibre, and 73% of property buyers consider an NBN fibre connection to a home as a value-add to their property.
Ken Walliss, NBN’s general manager for products, said: “Full fibre is NBN’s fastest and most reliable residential connection on the NBN network – offering speeds 15 times faster than our NBN Home Standard plan.
“The average Australian household consumes 1,200% more data each month than it did 10 years ago – driven by hybrid work, study and entertainment, such as streaming and gaming, across multiple devices – fast and reliable broadband is essential.
“Full fibre can deliver wholesale download speeds of close to 1Gbps, delivering a better NBN experience, including more consistent speed and minimal interruptions during online video calls. Uploading and downloading files can also be much quicker – a 200MB file may download nine times more quickly – while uploading the same file can potentially be done nearly twice as quickly.
Walliss said installing fibre to a building with many apartments is very different to connecting a house, so NBN has changed its approach to make it practical and affordable.
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Under the fibre upgrade programme, NBN will enter into an Area Switch Agreement with the corporate body for each building and deliver fibre to each apartment in the building from A$275, including taxes.
“This will then allow apartment occupants to contact an internet retailer and sign up to a plan that suits them – although there is no obligation to take advantage of the fibre delivered to their door,” said Walliss.
In June 2023, NBN said it was looking to roll out energy-efficient features on devices used in customer premises, along with measures to improve awareness of power outages and network impacts due to loss of mains power, as part of its broader sustainability goals.
