The Australian Government has announced a AU$3 billion equity investment in the NBN to complete its Australia-wide upgrade of fibre to the node (FTTN) connections to full, high-speed fibre (FTTP).
The equity investment – a type of investment in which the Government takes ownership of an entity in expectation of a future return – is joined by an AU$800 million investment from NBN Co. It’s an expansion of NBN Co’s fibre upgrade plan which is intended to improve speeds for everyone across the entire network.
Though the company declared that the initial build of the NBN was completed in 2020, these fibre upgrades are essential to improving the experience of internet users across the country serviced by less reliable copper-based NBN.
NBN Co claims that these upgrades, which will see the remaining approximate 622,000 homes and business still on node-based NBN upgraded to allow for fibre to the premises, will be completed by 2030, and that work has already begun. More than half of the homes and businesses that will be affected are located in regional Australia.
Full fibre, otherwise known as fibre to the premises (FTTP), is the fastest type of NBN connection, and is less susceptible to dropouts and outages than FTTN.
95 per cent of the properties currently serviced by fibre to the node will be able to voluntarily upgrade to full fibre once the work is completed at the home or business. As for the remaining five per cent, NBN Co needs to undertake further case-by-case design work to confirm appropriate upgrades.
“This critical investment will deliver access to better broadband to customers in the remaining part of our Fibre to the Node footprint,” NBN Co chief executive officer Ellie Sweeney said.
Yes, now is the time to upgrade your NBN connection
If you have access to the NBN’s free fibre upgrade program, you should absolutely consider upgrading. High-speed plans are more accessible than ever from dozens of providers across the country, and the best way to experience them is with high-speed full fibre.
Full fibre is less susceptible to dropouts than fibre to the node, which relies on old copper lines to deliver your internet service. It’s faster and more consistent during peak internet traffic times (between 7pm and 11pm) and because it doesn’t rely on the same aging technology, it’s less likely to suffer outages than the old copper systems.
At the time of writing, NBN Co offers upgrades to full fibre at eligible homes across Australia. To get the upgrade, you need to order an NBN 100-capable plan, or ‘Home Fast’ plan, from your NBN provider and coordinate the upgrade with them. This plan, come September, will be upgraded to be 500Mbps-capable (and we’ll likely need to rename it colloquially as ‘NBN 500’), giving you a much faster network experience in the home.
To get the ball rolling, here are our top picks right now for both NBN 100 and NBN 1000. The first is perfect for upgrading to full fibre for the first time, while the second is best for achieving high speeds at an attractive price.
