NBN announces $150m assistance package during coronavirus pandemic

NBN will soon give $150 million to telcos to help them support struggling customers, including low-income families who can’t access the increasingly vital utility at home.

The company in charge of building Australia’s national broadband network has announced a $150 million assistance package designed to help families with kids who now need the internet for school and small business struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The money will be delivered in three equal allotments to connect low-income families with school-aged children who don’t have internet at home, support households experiencing financial hardship due to the challenges presented by the coronavirus, and support small and medium-sized businesses.

For the first group, NBN Co is waiving the $37 monthly wholesale charge paid by the telcos that sell-on access to the network to their customers on the 25/5Mbps speed tier until September.

The telcos will have to opt in to the scheme and the plan they sell customers will be assessed by an internal NBN Co panel.

“This is intended to help make education accessible to all Australian students who are home schooling in response to social distancing measures,” said communications minister Paul Fletcher, who said “access to affordable broadband is now more important than ever”.

Earlier this month shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland and shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek called for that small number of families with children under 15 but no internet at home to be given free access to the NBN to “ensure no child is left behind”.

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Children are now reliant on the internet to continue their learning, but not all of the country’s students have access to the vital utility at home. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Ms Rowland welcomed the announcement Friday morning but said more could be done.

“We urge NBN Co to offer certainty and expand the duration of the eligible wholesale rebate for unconnected families beyond September 2020, as the current funding allocation appears to comfortably allow for that to occur,” Ms Rowland said on Friday morning.

For households suddenly finding themselves under money pressure due to widespread job losses and reductions, NBN Co are giving $50 million to telcos, who are supposed to use that money to support their existing financial hardship policies to maintain your NBN connection if you can’t pay all or any of your bills.

Ms Rowland said Labor also “acknowledges” that proposal, but the “welcome gesture” will require her party to “consult with stakeholders on suggestions as to how this might best work in practice”.

The remaining $50 million is to support small and medium businesses by waiving their wholesale monthly costs (the one the telco makes to NBN), and providing discounted access to new business plans until the end of January next year, a move also “welcomed” by Labor.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Judi Jones also joined the welcome wagon.

“Ensuring all people and small businesses can be connected and remain connected during this time is more critical than ever. This is a difficult time and we’re all in this together,” she said.

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Ipswich doctor Dr Jacob Cherian and medical receptionist Tia Hall are among the health staff around the company now more reliant on telecommunications for consulting with patients.

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The government-owned NBN Co will also provide telcos with priority connections and fault resolutions for emergency and essential services, such as for telehealth providers who rely on the internet to treat customers remotely. That’s on top of an existing speed boost for GP clinics announced last week, and additional bandwidth capacity being given to telcos free of charge to support increased traffic from more people working from home.

“The unprecedented measures we are announcing today reflect our commitment to the telecommunications industry in helping to deliver a whole of industry solution to these consumer and business segments which have been hit hard by the pandemic,“ NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue said.

The NBN is approaching the end of its rollout but the process that has taken almost a decade has another stumbling block at the finish line thanks to the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.

Some internet service providers, particularly the bigger ones like Telstra, Optus and Vodafone who do little more than sell on access to other companies’ networks, have also introduced there own support for customers, but it differs between them so you’ll have to check with your specific telco to see what help is available.

The announcement comes as a result of emergency consultations being held by NBN Co between telcos, the Government, and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), which earlier called for the plans to provide cheaper concessional internet to low-income Australians and the unemployed be brought forward.

ACCAN said NBN should be “applauded” for “laying the groundwork to keep struggling families and households connected during this difficult time”.

“The internet is an essential service for work, study, and accessing government and telehealth services,” said ACCAN CEO, Teresa Corbin.

She said it’s now up to the telcos to “build on these foundations” and make sure the financial relief is delivered to those who need it.