The Morrison Government is rolling out better broadband across Australia in the fastest and most affordable way.

This is a key part of our economic plan to make Australia a top 10 data and digital economy by 2030.

The NBN is now available to over 12 million homes and businesses - or more than 99% of Australian premises.

It has over 8.4 million active connections.

We have a comprehensive plan to upgrade the NBN across urban, regional and rural communities, including:

  • $480 million to upgrade the fixed wireless and satellite networks by 2024, providing faster speeds and higher data allowances for up to 1 million people in regional, remote and peri-urban Australia.
  • $4.5 billion to provide around 8 million fixed-line premises across regional and metro Australia with access to ultra-fast broadband speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second by the end of 2023.

Under Labor, the NBN was a complete mess.

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

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.

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

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

The Liberal and Nationals Government got the NBN back on-track.

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 NETWORK INVESTMENTS

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 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 government funding.

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 technology.

NBN FIXED WIRELESS AND SATELLITE

As part of the 2022-23 Budget, we announced $480 million over two years to upgrade the NBN Fixed Wireless and Satellite networks.

This will provide higher speeds for those on the fixed wireless network and increased data limits for those on SkyMuster satellite, benefiting up to 1 million households and businesses in regional and remote Australia.

The upgrade will expand the fixed wireless footprint coverage by up to 50%, enabling 120,000 additional premises to access fixed wireless services instead of satellite.

Higher speeds will be available on fixed wireless: 100 Mbps to all 750,000 premises able to access the new, expanded footprint, and a 250 Mbps service will be available to 85% of premises.

It also means much higher actual speeds during the “network busy hour” – up from 6 Mbps to at least 50 Mbps.

Because some existing NBN satellite customers will move to fixed wireless, this will free up capacity on the satellite network. Average monthly data allowances for standard Sky Muster plans will increase to 55GB in the short term, increasing to 90GB once the fixed wireless upgrade is complete in around 2 years.

BUSINESS FIBRE INITIATIVE

The Coalition Government is also backing a significant investment into Australia’s small and medium businesses.

More than 850,000 businesses in over 300 Business Fibre Zones will be eligible to access speeds up to 1 Gbps - significantly uplifting the digital capability of small and medium sized businesses. This includes over 120 Business Fibre Zones located in regional areas.

Australian businesses in these zones can request a fibre upgrade to NBN Co Enterprise Ethernet, their fastest wholesale product, at no upfront cost.

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

Information current as at April 2022