Under Labor, the NBN was a complete mess.

After six years of Labor, just 51,000 users were connected to the NBN.

A 2013 NBN Co Strategic review found Labor’s fibre rollout would have taken until 2024 to complete (three years longer than indicated in their corporate plan) and require $72.6 billion in funding (tens of billions more than the Coalition Government’s rollout).

Labor paid $6 billion for the NBN to pass just 3% of Australian premises. The rollout was so badly managed, contractors downed tools and stopped construction work in four states.

Under Labor, the NBN missed every rollout target it set for itself.

Under the Liberal and Nationals Government, the NBN rollout is on schedule and on-budget.

The Government is rolling out better broadband across Australia in the fastest and most affordable way, so Australians can get access to fast broadband sooner at a price they can afford.

The NBN is now available to around 12 million homes and businesses – or more than 99 per cent of Australian premises.

It now has over 8 million active connections.

The prices Australians pay for telecommunications services (including broadband) have fallen by 27% in real terms since the Coalition came to power in 2013, while also receiving higher data allowances and faster speeds.

Today almost every home and business in Australia can order a service of at least 25 Mbps, and 75% are on 50 Mbps or higher plans.

NBN Co aims to have 75% of the fixed-line network capable of Gigabit speeds by 2023.

 

NBN NETWORK INVESTMENTS

Completing the network early under the Coalition’s plan has meant NBN Co has been able to generate revenues earlier, and is now able to take advantage of its strong position to upgrade the network.

Around 75% of homes and businesses on the fixed-line network will have access to ultra-fast broadband speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) by 2023 following a $4.5 billion upgrade to the NBN.

This is only possible because our methodical rollout strategy has delivered strongly rising connection numbers, revenues and cash flows.

NBN Co is fully funding the $4.5 billion upgrade via private debt markets at a time of low interest rates – there is no further funding from the Government.

NBN Co has also created a $300 million fund for regional areas, which it will use to co-invest with federal, state and territory governments and local councils. This will be used to move more regional areas from fixed wireless or satellite to a fixed line access technology.

 

BUSINESS FIBRE INITIATIVE

The Government is also backing a significant investment into Australia’s small and medium businesses through NBN Co’s Business Fibre Initiative.

More than 850,000 businesses in 284 Business Fibre Zones will be eligible to access speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second, significantly uplifting the digital capability of small and medium sized businesses. This includes 111 Business Fibre Zones located in regional areas.

Australian businesses in these zones will be able to request a fibre upgrade to NBN Co Enterprise Ethernet, NBN Co’s fastest wholesale product, at no upfront cost.

The initiative will support our economic recovery from COVID-19 and the Government’s goal for Australia to be a leading digital economy by 2030.

Information current as at August 2021