NBN underperforms compared to NZ counterpart

NBN Co’s charging access model and approach to provisioning traffic is causing the network to underperform compared to the equivalent network in New Zealand, the Ultrafast Broadband network, according to the ACCC.

A join report prepared by the ACCC and its Kiwi counterpart the Commerce Commission found that while the NBN generally compares well compared to the equivalent connection types in New Zealand, there are areas where it does not match up.

“NBN’s access charging model and approach to provisioning upload traffic on fixed-line connections appear to be causing some busy hour and upload metrics to fall below New Zealand’s,” ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said.

“There are no technical impediments to the NBN matching New Zealand’s busy hour and upload performance on 100 Mbps download plans,” she said, suggesting that the relative underperformance is therefore a result of NBN’s business practices.

While both NBN fixed line 100 Mbps and UFB Fibre 100 plans achieved higher than the advertised speed of 100 Mbps on average, during busy hours, the average download speed on NBN fixed line 100/20 plans declined by 4.5 Mbps (97.6 Mbps) in Australia, compared to 2.3 Mbps in New Zealand.

New Zealand’s network also outperformed the NBN in terms of upload speeds, and average download speeds on Australia’s NBN Ultrafast broadband plans were lower than average download speeds on New Zealand’s equivalent Fibre Max broadband plans.

“We encourage consumers who are looking to upgrade to a very high speed tier to consider the value of these services relative to their normal daily usage,” Brakey said.

“Most consumers, even with multiple family members online at the same time, do not require the fastest plans currently available in Australia, and have a good broadband experience on plans with lower download speeds.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Adam Calaitzis