Telco sector welcomes nbn speed stats

Telecoms industry body Communications Alliance has welcomed the findings of the recent ACCC report into the real-world performance of nbn services, but chided the regulator over its choice of statistics to report.

The ACCC’s second Measuring Broadband Australia report, published earlier this week, found that nbn providers monitored for the report were achieving speeds of between 74.4% and 88.3% of their maximum plan speeds.

Over 70% of nbn service speed tests conducted for the report measured download speeds of 90% of the monitored providers’ maximum plan speeds, and there was mostly only a 1% difference between the speeds recorded during busy and non-busy areas.

But Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said that the statistics provided in the report indicate that with the exception of one provider that does not advertise typical busy hour speeds, the service providers achieved an average of 99.9% of the speeds they actually advertise to consumers.

“This is an excellent result, showing that customers are receiving the service performance that has been promised and they have purchased,” he said.

But he expressed disappointment that the ACCC chose for the second time not to report this statistic, instead concentrating only on maximum speeds.

“This is unfortunate, given that the ACCC has issued guidance — and providers have entered enforceable undertakings in accordance with it — that providers should not make claims around maximum plan speeds, and instead should advertise based on information about typical busy hour speeds,” he said.

The ACCC’s report does note that the figures should not be interpreted as an indication that a given nbn retail service provider has failed to deliver the speeds it advertised.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/alphaspirit

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