NBN Co will not recover at least $31 billion of regulatory costs, related to the building and maintenance of the network, in a move designed to allow it to cut wholesale internet prices in the future.

In a new draft pricing proposal lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week, the government-owned company said it would no longer seek to recover the full $44 billion sunk into the initial build and instead would only claw back $12.5 billion from retail internet providers.