NBN Co to raise wholesale plan prices from July

NBN Co is set to raise the majority of its monthly wholesale plan prices from 1 July, increasing costs for popular residential.

According to the National Broadband Network (NBN) builder, the increases are in line with the regulatory framework in its Special Access Undertaking and have been reflected on average to be slightly under the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Affected popular plans include its its 12/1 Mbps (non-basic bundled offer) plan, which is set to rise by $0.90 a month to $33.47, and go up to its 500 to ~1,000/50 Mbps plan with an increase of $1.71 to $73.93.

Meanwhile, its 12/1 Mbps (basic bundled offer) plan will see no change and will remain at $12.01 per month.

In a statement, NBN Co chief customer officer Anna Perrin said the NBN builder recognises that customers expect value, choice and transparency.

“Changes to our wholesale prices are always carefully considered to ensure we continue delivering value to homes and businesses across Australia, while investing in a network that will help meet Australia’s growing digital demands,” she said.

“We have seen average household data use increase tenfold over the past decade and it’s projected to double again by 2029.

“There are over 150 phone and internet providers Australia-wide that offer a variety of [NBN Co] plans with different inclusions and prices.”

The NBN builder also reiterated upcoming wholesale discounts for select business packages that it previously announced in September last year, stating that they have been design to better meet higher upload usage needs and the requirement for a higher level of service support.

“Business Fibre plans were developed to support the growing needs of small businesses who required business broadband at a price that reflects their business size,” an NBN Co spokesperson said.

“Market uptake on Business Fibre plans reflects this with customers typically upgrading from residential plans to gain access to the greater bandwidth and service options.”

Additionally, the wholesale price point for its 250/100 Mbps plus Essentials package, which in September was announced to be reduced to $61.933 a month, will be reduced even further by roughly $0.40, dropping down to $61.53.

These plans will see stable pricing from 1 July and have their discounts applied from 1 September.

The impact of the price changes on NBN Co’s most popular residential fixed-line wholesale speed tiers are as follows: