Press conference - Long Beach, NSW

MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: In 2023, access to the highest quality broadband right around Australia, irrespective of where you live or work, is absolutely essential. It’s so important for interacting with e-commerce, with government or telehealth, for education and, of course, for entertainment. And demand for data continues to grow. Only a couple of years ago there would be a small number of devices connected within people’s homes. Now it’s well over 20 devices on average. For this reason, we need to make sure that every Australian, including everyone who lives down here on the beautiful New South Wales South Coast, has the ability to access the best quality broadband.

 

I’m delighted to announce that today we have reached a significant milestone in NBN’s upgrade of its Fixed Wireless network. What this means is that 16,000 small businesses and homes across the South Coast of New South Wales and also the Queensland Sunshine Coast will be able to access faster speeds as a result of these upgrades to the NBN Fixed Wireless network. It also means that some 3,200 customers will be capable of accessing the Fixed Wireless network – whereas previously they would have been on the satellite service.

 

But that’s not all we’re doing as a Government in terms of upgrading the NBN to make it better for all Australians. We are investing $2.4 billion right now to fibre up those previous copper areas right around Australia, including some 660,000 premises in rural and regional Australia. These upgrades to the Fixed Wireless network are also continuing apace and will continue to be rolled out right across Australia. And that’s the result of the Albanese Government’s $480 million investment in these upgrades. As we announced some months ago, NBN Co has also upgraded its satellite service to introduce its first uncapped, unmetered consumer product to ensure that residents on the satellite service have better quality, better speeds and a better experience overall.

 

What this is all about is that by the end of next year, we’ll have some one million premises across rural and regional Australia on the Fixed Wireless or satellite networks that have been upgraded to ensure that they can access the best speeds and the highest quality broadband. This is all part of the Albanese Government’s commitment and our delivery to build better NBN and a better experience for more Australians – making sure that people’s quality of life, the way that they work, the way that they study, the way that they transact, is all improved.

 

And I’ll hand over to Jason Ashton from NBN Co, who has been leading the technology and build side to make sure that this comes to fruition for the good people here on the New South Wales South Coast, including people like Jacqui. So thanks very much, Jason.

 

JASON ASHTON, NBN: Thank you, Minister. So certainly very exciting today, as the Minister said – the two upgrade areas that we’ve completed here in the Nowra region and also on the Sunshine Coast are the first of many that are benefitting from the upgrades to the fixed wireless network. They’re in total about 80 upgrade areas that will all be completed by the end of next year, so a lot more coming in the next few months that will see the same upgrade speeds that we’ve delivered here.

 

And why are we doing this? Because, as the Minister said, Australians are becoming more and more dependent on the internet and data consumption continues to increase. So you’ve got connected devices in the home, you’ve got people using streaming video, you’ve got people using home learning applications, you’ve got people working from home and, of course, you’ve got things like e-health and other applications that are critical now for use in the home. And we need to make sure that the network is not only fast, you know, during certain times of the day but also has the capacity to deliver those speeds when it's most needed – during the busiest times of the network. And that’s what this upgrade is doing.

 

In addition to the announcement about the upgrades completing here today, we’re actually also announcing a step-up in what our commitments are on this upgrade. So we’re taking what we’d already planned to do and, if you like, enhancing it a little bit further. So, firstly, we’ve got an existing product which is called Fixed Wireless Plus, which most of our customers use today. It’s, in fact, 60 per cent of the customers are on this plan. We’re stepping up the speed of that service from 75 megabits to 100 megabits, and that service is going to be available right across the country. So 100 per cent of the network, which will be 750,000 premises, will be able to order 100 megabit service. And that is at no additional wholesale cost. So that’s a step-up in performance on the existing plan at no extra cost.

 

In addition, we’re developing two new higher-speed services that have been in the works for a little while and we’re actually increasing the performance of those two services. So when they launch in 2024 – which is not far away now – those two services instead of being the first one, which was 100 to 130 megabits, will now be 200 to 250 megabits. And the second one, instead of being 200 to 250 megabits will actually be 400 megabits. We’ll have two much faster higher speed services available to those customers that have really demanding needs or really large households with lots of devices and they need an extra speed fix, if you like.

 

They’ll be available roughly middle of next year, which is fantastic. But in the meantime, all of the upgrades we’ve been doing right across the network are already starting to make an incredible difference to end user speeds. So we’re seeing it in the data. These are not the only two areas of the network that we’ve been working on. We’ve been working on dozens and dozens and dozens of different areas across the network. We’ve got crews right around the country working on the Fixed Wireless upgrades.

 

So right now performance is improving on a daily basis. We’ve already doubled the total capacity on the network since we started the upgrade plan in July last year, and we will double it again by the time we complete it at the end of next year. By the time this upgrade is completed, you’ll have faster services for existing customers on existing plans and you’ll have two new ultrafast services as well on Fixed Wireless available for customers to order.

 

So it’s a great news story here today. I think that’s the key messages that I wanted to convey. And I’ll hand over to Jacqui, sorry.

 

ASHTON: Yes. Jacqui, can I ask you: why did you choose NBN’s Fixed Wireless service?

 

JACQUI, LOCAL RESIDENT: Because it’s the only thing you actually offered me at the time! [laughs].

 

ASHTON: So prior to NBN’s fixed wireless service you had nothing at all?

 

JACQUI: No.

 

ASHTON: And has it made the difference to the way you use the internet?

 

JACQUI: I use the internet every day now for everything.

 

ASHTON: That’s fantastic. And is it reliable?

 

JACQUI: One hundred per cent.

 

ASHTON: Fantastic.

 

JACQUI: And fast. And I’ve never – I’ve had it since 2015 and I’ve never had a problem with my Fixed Wireless.

 

ASHTON: Fantastic. Well, we’re going to make it even better. And even faster.

 

JOURNALIST: Jacqui, were you previously on a satellite?

 

JACQUI: No.

 

JOURNALIST: What were you on before this?

 

JACQUI: Nothing. I lived in Mogo, rural Mogo. And the phone line went for about a kilometre to the road and was always full of water. So you couldn’t put any NBN in.

 

JOURNALIST: So you’ve had the fixed wireless since 2015?

 

JACQUI: Yes.

 

JOURNALIST: How did that go during the 2019-20 bushfire emergency?

 

JACQUI: Well, we didn’t have any power for 18 days, so it didn’t really matter. Nothing worked.

 

ROWLAND: I think what Jacqui has highlighted are probably two really important things: firstly, the whole reason why the NBN was initiated in the first place was to ensure that every Australian, irrespective of where they lived had access to broadband services. But also we’re investing significant resources and investments following the bushfires and following the royal commission, understanding how important communications are. Which is why I’m very pleased that we current have out for applications at the moment a Mobile Network Hardening Program in order to guard against natural disasters to make networks more resilient. And, of course, as Jason will tell you, this has been front of mind of NBN Co in its design and the way that it undertakes its investments.

 

We’re very aware that we’re about to come into a precarious situation when it comes to bushfire season, particularly across regional Australia. And one of the reasons for these upgrades is to ensure that we have a network that is more resilient, has a strong upgrade path as well and one that responds to the needs of consumers like Jacqui.

 

JOURNALIST: So that $480 million, is that just for the Fixed Wireless upgrades?

 

ROWLAND: That’s for the Fixed Wireless upgrades. That was the Albanese Government’s contribution. NBN Co, of course, continues to do this as a matter of course and make these investments. But not only are we upgrading, as I said, the Fixed Wireless service; we’re undertaking upgrades across all the technologies. That includes specific investments by the Government of $2.4 billion to upgrade from copper to fibre for an extra 1.5 million premises, 660,000 of those in the regions. And at the same time improving that satellite service, making sure that Sky Muster Premium Plus service is actually responding to consumer needs.

 

And it’s essential that NBN Co and a forward-looking Government undertakes these investments to ensure there’s an upgrade path into the future. We know that demand is not going to go backwards, is it Jacqui?

 

JACQUI: No, it’s not.

 

ROWLAND: It’s only going to get higher. And we need to make sure that as a forward-looking Government and a forward-looking entity like NBN Co, we’re responding in advance to the needs that we know customers will have.

 

JOURNALIST: Why was the South Coast chosen as one of the locations to be first?

 

ROWLAND: These were made on, as Jason will tell you, independent decisions by NBN Co. But all of these upgrades are continuing at multiple locations right around the country. These two came in first, and we’re very happy about that. But, of course, there will be other areas that we’ll be able to announce in the near future as these upgrades are completed. And those residents I think will be equally as delighted as Jacqui when they are announced, and as this continues to roll out right across rural and regional and peri‑urban Australia.

 

JOURNALIST: And what are the speeds, the maximum speeds, that can be offered by the Fixed Wireless service here?

 

ASHTON: So we've announced today that we’ll be offering services up to 400 megabits, which is five times faster than currently available on the network to 85 per cent of the network.

 

JOURNALIST: Is that maximum?

 

ASHTON: The maximum is 400, yes. It does have an overhead allowance on top of that, but the product value proposition, if you like, is a minimum of 400 once a day. And that is the speed of the service that we’ll be offering.

 

JOURNALIST: And how confident are you that all customers will be able to get around that speed?

 

ASHTON: Very confident for the 85 per cent. So 90 per cent will be able to get service speeds of 200 to 250 meg and a hundred per cent – every single customer – will be eligible to get service speeds of a minimum of a hundred. So it’s no less than the commitments we made last year. In fact, we’ve stepped up the commitments a little bit from last year.

 

JOURNALIST: And, Jacqui, is the internet good enough for you in terms of speed et cetera?

 

JACQUI: I’ve never had a complaint, yeah. Never had a problem since it was connected.

 

JOURNALIST: Would you encourage everyone you know to get on to the Fixed Wireless?

 

JACQUI: I never understood why everybody didn’t have it.

 

JOURNALIST: And what kinds of things do you do with your Fixed Wireless service, Jacqui, at home?

 

JACQUI: Well, I run a small business from home. So I continually use it every day. Plus I’m a bingeing junkie, so. Yeah, everything. I’m on 24/7!

 

JOURNALIST: Are you in a more rural property as well near Mogo?

 

JACQUI: No, I actually moved from Mogo and I moved to in town. But where I am, again, I had to have Fixed Wireless, which I was so pleased about. No interference with, you know, water and the lines and men digging up the lines and, yeah, nothing.