Last month, the ACCC accepted a variation from the company responsible for rolling out the National Broadband Network, one that changed wholesale pricing for the NBN and has a trickle-down impact on you, the consumer.
So, the ACCC has today put out a PSA:
“The ACCC is urging Australian households to shop around for their NBN broadband plans and check for any offers that represent better value for them, following NBN Co notifying retailers of changes to the wholesale prices that it will charge them from next month”.
At the same time, the watchdog has also put NBN retailers on notice, reminding them that it will be monitoring to “ensure they are upfront with consumers about retail price changes and being accurate in how they present the suitability of their plans for different household types”.
While we covered the back and forth that led to this wholesale pricing change, we only touched on what those changes were during an edition of 5 Things in August. So, we thought we’d take the opportunity to explain a few things.
Firstly, the Special Access Undertaking, or SAU, is quite an important part of the operation, and execution, of the National Broadband Network and while it mainly governs how and what broadband providers must do in order to access the NBN, as we said at the start, it has a trickle-down effect on you.
The Special Access Undertaking is a key part of the regulation of the NBN, too, which is where the ACCC comes in.
The Special Access Undertaking sets the rules for broadband providers to access the NBN over the coming decades, such as how the minimum service standards and price caps will be determined over time. Any update to the NBN SAU requires NBN Co to lodge a variation to the ACCC, which is then published for consultation. The ACCC must then decide whether to accept or reject the variation to the undertaking, apply the statutory test, and take into consideration the stakeholder feedback received.
The ACCC accepted the terms in August.
As a result of these changes, the maximum wholesale prices for some NBN speed tiers will initially reduce, including prices for the most affordable services, while some others will increase. For instance, the wholesale prices for the 100 Mbps and 25 Mbps speed tiers will initially decrease, while the wholesale price for the 50 Mbps speed tier will increase. I received an email off my ISP, MORE Telecom, to say my 100 Mbps price had dropped, while a colleague of mine said their 50 Mbps plan has increased. Both instances were only a few dollars, but every cent counts.
That’s why the ACCC is asking you to shop around. Here’s a quick glance at the cheapest NBN 50 plans out there:
Instead of doing that for every speed tier, here you’ll find our wrap-up articles on the cheapest NBN across every speed tier:
- Cheapest NBN 25 plans
- Cheapest NBN 50 plans
- Cheapest NBN 100 plans
- Cheapest NBN 250 plans
- Cheapest NBN 1000 plans.
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