NBN to receive $480m rural boost

Regional Australians are set to benefit from an infrastructure upgrade that should significantly bolster their broadband speeds.

NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue at their offices in North Sydney. Britta Campion / The Australian

The federal government says it will spend an extra $480 million to get the fixed wireless portion of the NBN up to scratch, along with an additional $270m funding from NBN Co, which they say will deliver faster wholesale speeds to rural Australia.

More than 2,200 fixed wireless infrastructure sites will be upgraded with 5G technology, NBN Co said on Tuesday, a move that will upgrade the extended maximum range for some towers by up 50 per cent. Existing satellite customers will also benefit, with some NBN satellite customers to be moved to fixed wireless services.

It comes as Elon Musk‘s Starlink service – which offers speeds of up to 250 megabits per second for rural Australian customers but is significantly more expensive than the NBN – recently launched to the public.

“Access to fast and reliable broadband plays a vital role in the lives of people across Australia and is critical for the nation’s economy – and 5G will be core to enhancing and accelerating our NBN fixed wireless capability,“ NBN’s chief development officer for regional and remote Gavin Williams said in a statement.

“This investment will also support the regional Australian economy with an additional $6.1 billion in regional Gross Domestic Product over 2022 to 2026 financial years.

The NBN is now going head to head with Starlink. Photo Erica Murree / Central & North Burnett Times

“We will commence detailed planning shortly. After that is completed, we expect the roll out will take around two and a half years, subject to further assessment through the detailed planning process.”

Communications minister Paul Fletcher said up to 1 million premises in regional, rural and remote Australia will gain access to higher speeds on fixed wireless NBN services, and customers on NBN‘s satellite service Sky Muster will benefit from greater data limits.

The upgrades are on top of the $4.5bn network investment announced in September 2020, which will deliver speeds of close to 1 Gbps to 2 million homes, or around 75 per cent of NBN‘s fixed line footprint by the end of 2023.

“This means more people can be served by NBN fixed wireless; it means higher speed services on the NBN fixed wireless network; and it means higher amounts of data can be used by households and business customers. The upgrade will expand the fixed wireless footprint coverage by up to 50 per cent, enabling 120,000 additional premises to access fixed wireless services instead of Sky Muster satellite services,” Mr Fletcher said.

“It also means much higher actual speeds during the ‘network busy hour’– the time of day when the network is most heavily used, typically around 8pm. The network design metric for the busy hour today is 6 Mbps; this will rise sharply following the upgrade, to 50 Mbps.

“This means customers will benefit even if they do not order a higher speed plan, as they will experience a sharp increase in the actual speed of their current plan.”

Mr Fletcher added that the government would respond to the 2021 Regional Telecommunications Review in full in coming weeks.

The review, which occurs every three years, noted that reliable telecommunications are essential for everyday life in regional, rural and remote Australia and have assumed a role much more on par with electricity.

“This is evident when the communications system goes down as in recent bush fires, floods, and cyclones. In the same way that we need to keep the lights going, we also need to keep data flowing,” the report reads.

“Australia is now at a crossroads where it can either risk the digital divide expanding, or see the regions flourish. It is important that the digital divide does not widen, and that regional, rural and remote Australians are not left behind as Australia reaps the benefits of the digital economy.”