Generation rent more inclined to rely on mobile. NBN Co wants to change that

The nation’s massive broadband project was based on one big assumption — but there’s one thing that could hold it back.

A friend of mine recently took the plunge and bought an apartment in Sydney.

Good for her, right? But as the excitement wears off, things quickly turn to the trials and tribulations of packing, moving and establishing everything you need in a new home. However one major thing she won’t be worrying about: home broadband.

She doesn’t know exactly how long she’ll be living in the apartment and is happy to get by on her mobile data for the foreseeable future.

This is the scenario that the company building the nation’s broadband network is worried about.

Plenty of proverbial ink has been spilt on the potential threat 5G mobile technology poses to the NBN. The greater speeds and ever increasing data allowances of mobile connectivity could mean some Australians decide to forgo an NBN home internet connection all together, or so the theory goes.

For any serious internet user, this is probably not a viable scenario. But for those who just want to surf the web, send e-mails, stream music and watch the occasional video, mobile internet offers an entirely plausible alternative to a fixed line connection.

To address this issue, NBN executives say they are exploring product ideas to make it easier for retail providers like Telstra and TPG to sell NBN services to transient apartment dwellers who might not like the idea of committing to a fixed line connection.

During Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday night, the company’s top brass revealed they are exploring ways to improve low uptake rates among this particular segment of the population to better compete with new mobile offerings such as the recently announced Optus 5G wireless broadband service.

“We do have a lower take-up rate thus far in multi-dwelling units and the hypothesis as part of that is due to the transient nature of people who come in and come out”, NBN’s chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said.

“To the extent to which they need some connectivity, it’s reasonable to assume those people are using mobile.”

NBN boss Stephen Rue said the company is looking at ways to assist those consumers and steer them towards an NBN connection in a bid to boost its customer base.

“We are looking from a product perspective on how we could make it easier when an end user comes in and have an always-on NBN service or something like that. So it’s easy to come in and out,” he said.

NBN Co will consult with the RSPs to hammer out the details, Mr Rue added, so it remains to be seen what any new product offerings could entail.

“We’re not quite at the stage where it is formulated enough into a clear plan though … we’re still working on it”, he said.

Calls have been growing louder for a writedown to be made on the value of the NBN, therefore reducing the company’s strict mandate to turn a profit on the $51 billion project. Such a move would hit the bottom line of the federal government’s budget but would open the door to cheaper broadband prices, provided RSPs passed on some of the savings.

The NBN project is predicated on the assumption that about three-quarters of the population covered by the network will sign up to it.

NBN CEO Stephen Rue has dismissed the need for a writedown, however moves to encourage more end-users to sign up to the NBN could be necessary to maintain that position.

There are currently about 4.8 million active NBN connections while there are 8.3 million Australian homes and businesses that are able to connect to the network, according to the company’s latest data.

NBN chief executive Stephen Rue. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian