NBN Co missed appointments costing consumers $15m a year

Telcos are being urged to pay out-of-pocket Australians $100 for missed NBN appointments after shocking new analysis revealed the cost to consumers. HAVE YOUR SAY

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Missed NBN appointments are costing consumers more than $15 million a year due to missed time, shocking new analysis has shown.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network is now pushing the competition regulator to make NBN Co pay telcos $100 for every missed NBN appointment, The Australian reports.

According to ACCAN, the financial impact of NBN Co’s 320 missed appointments a day warrants stringent action.

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said the company had identified three groups of people resisting an NBN connection. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Modelling commissioned by ACCAN from Synergy Economics shows the time wasted per missed NBN Co appointment costs an individual $150 on average.

“We know that the process of connecting to the NBN or getting a fault fixed can be a real pain point for people,” ACCAN director of policy, Una Lawrence, said.

“Not only do you have the inconvenience of taking time off from work to wait for a contractor, but there’s no guarantee they’ll turn up on time or at all.”

The call comes after it was revealed two in five households who can connect to the National Broadband Network are still resisting it, with more than four million people now ignoring the $51 billion network available in their local area.

The trend was highlighted again in financial results from NBN Co on Wednesday, which showed more than 40 per cent of premises in areas “ready to connect” were still using their old internet providers, and chief executive Stephen Rue said the company was working on “targeted incentives” to convince them to make the jump.

But network analysts said 5G mobile services would continue to steal potential subscribers while Aussies waited for upgrades to NBN’s download speeds, more reliable connections, and lower prices.

The cost of installing NBN connections has risen, its latest figures showed.

NBN Co’s results for the first three months of the 2020 financial year showed it had declared an extra 335,000 extra premises ready to connect to the NBN, users were spending an additional $2 per month for NBN services, and just over half (58 per cent) were signed up to a 50 megabit per second broadband plan.

While the NBN’s revenue increased to $876 million, the report also showed the network had made a loss of $1.5 billion this year, fuelled by higher subscriber costs, greater depreciation expenses, and the rising cost of broadband connections as it approached its June 2020 deadline.

There was also a significant gap of 4.12 million premises between those who could connect to the NBN and those who had connected to it, and Mr Rue said the company’s own research showed “unconnected” households fell into three groups.

“The first group are those who have no internet at home,” he said. “The second group are those who have chosen mobile only. And, finally, the third group are those who have non-NBN broadband at home.

“Across all three of these groups, there are some common threads. Firstly, affordability and secondly those for whom we need to work a bit harder to … encourage that connection.”

Mr Rue admitted the figures showed “there exists a real gap in the market that needs to be addressed,” and said NBN Co was working on “a range of programs and targeted incentives” to convince those still holding out to sign up to an NBN plan.

Households typically receive just 18 months to sign up to an NBN plan after the network is ready to be connected in their area, though disconnection dates in some areas are being postponed due to more challenging installations.

But independent telecommunications network analyst Paul Budde said as much as 25 per cent of Australian households would continue to resist signing up to an NBN plan, with many opting to use 4G and 5G home internet services to save money and secure flexibility.

He said the problem was not demand for broadband, but internet users were being turned off by its cost, rigid plans, and slow download speeds.

“For the foreseeable future, there is a good opportunity for mobile providers to tap into dissatisfaction with the NBN to get more customers,” he said.

“In the longer term, NBN Co cannot just sit on its hands. They will have to improve the quality of the NBN and the prices.”

New discounts on NBN Co plans are expected to be revealed in the results of its Wholesale Pricing Review to be released later this year.

- with staff writers

Originally published as NBN Co missed appointments costing consumers $15m a year