ACCC to shine a welcome light down the dark hole of NBN download speeds

The Australian, August 11, 2017

The ACCC will shortly issue new data on the NBN showing how much access the telcos are buying and what sort of speed they are providing at peak hours.

The move will help consumers know what they are getting and provide some facts in the debate between the NBN and the phone companies on access speed.

The big complaint about the NBN so far is it is delivering slower speeds than consumer were getting before the network landed at their house.

Bill Morrow at the NBN says that’s because the phone companies are not buying enough access amid their grab for market share. The phone companies are blaming the NBN.

ACCC boss Rod Sims will soon enter the debate with a couple of legal actions against providers who are not delivering the services they’re spruiking.

Then he will add to his quarterly reports tables showing how much access the phone companies are actually buying.

Next will be figures showing what sort of speeds you can expect to get at peak hour. This will allow you to judge whether provider A or B is offering better services.

In a release today, the ACCC said it “is currently consulting with industry about whether further information relating to the amount of CVC capacity acquired and the utilisation of that capacity by each access seeker group should be reported by NBN Co.”

The NBN will show how on the same streets at the same time service delivery offered by individual carriers can differ markedly.

The moral of the tale being pick your provider carefully.

The good news from the survey is Telstra has lost some market share — albeit only a few percentage points in regional areas.

This shows competition is actually working in the sector, which was one of the aims of the NBN.

The ACCC survey noted the number of services last quarter increased by 21 per cent and CVC capacity rose by 36 per cent.

The providers are getting the message.

They can only blame the NBN for as long as consumers remain oblivious to the fact that it is the providers who are dudding consumers.