A broadband network for Australia’s future
How will we connect?
The NBN will provide high-speed broadband access to all Australian homes and businesses through a mix of three technologies: optic fibre, fixed wireless and next-generation satellite.93 per cent of Australian homes, schools and businesses will have access to the NBN through optic fibre to premises, capable of providing broadband speeds of up to one gigabit per second.
- Seven per cent of premises will have access to the NBN through next-generation fixed wireless and satellite technologies, providing peak speeds of up to 25 megabits per second.
Work is already well underway on the NBN and, by the end of the 10-year rollout, NBN Co plans to connect all Australian homes and businesses to this new high-speed broadband network.
Why do we need the NBN?
Australia mostly relies on an ageing copper telecommunications network to connect our homes and businesses to the internet, so our broadband performance lags behind many other countries.
Technology is advancing faster than at any other time and it’s playing a bigger part in our daily lives; from learning and communicating to health and business. All these advances require more data–in fact, Australian internet data downloads grew by more than 50 per cent in the last year . Globally internet data traffic is expected to grow fourfold from 2011-2016 .
That’s why the Australian Government is investing in the NBN. The NBN represents a significant leap in the quality and speed of broadband access currently available to most Australians, and is part of a comprehensive plan to prepare Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure for the future.
Fibre to the premises is often referred to as a ‘future proof’ technology because it provides the high speeds and reliability required for advanced digital services and can support a wide range of high bandwidth applications at once. It can also be easily upgraded to meet increasing demands for bandwidth.
So it’s just about speed?
Not quite. The NBN is also the biggest telecommunications reform in Australia’s history.
It means fairer infrastructure access for service providers, greater retail competition and more choice with services for families and businesses.
For the first time in Australia, the NBN will deliver separation between wholesale and retail service providers, like your internet and phone provider.
This means NBN Co will roll out the network and sell wholesale services to service providers. In turn, service providers will offer retail services to you.
The wholesale access price of NBN services will be the same across all three technologies—$24 a month for a basic service with speeds of 12 Mbps download and one Mbps upload. This means wherever you live or do business, for the first time the same wholesale price will be paid for the same basic service.
With uniform national wholesale pricing around Australia, the NBN will ensure that every community in Australia has access to high-speed broadband at competitive prices.
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