The ACCC has released its eighth quarterly National Broadband Network Wholesale Market Indicators Report for the period ending 31 December 2017.

The report highlights a significant increase in Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) acquired, from 1.11 megabits per second (Mbps) to 1.52 Mbps per user since the September 2017 quarter, an increase of 37 per cent.

In December, NBN Co made retailers a temporary credit offer for acquiring 50 per cent more CVC per user. It also made Access Virtual Circuit (AVC) at 50 Mbps available for the price of the 25Mbps.

“We are pleased to see such a large jump in the CVC acquired by retailers from NBN Co this quarter. With this level of CVC consumers will have faster broadband speeds and hopefully less congestion during peak evening periods,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“NBN Co’s response to retailers’ concerns about CVC pricing seems to have had an impact on the amount of CVC being acquired which we believe will benefit consumers through better quality broadband.”

“We hope NBN Co and retailers can continue to work together to ensure the level of CVC needed for a good customer experience is maintained,” Mr Sims said.

By the end of 2017, five access seekers were connected to all 121 points of interconnection (POIs), and other smaller players have also continued to increase their access in the last quarter.

“We're pleased to note a fifth broadband provider is now connected to all 121 points of interconnect, with other smaller providers well on their way. This is great news for competition and, for Australian broadband customers, it means greater choice in which provider to connect with.”

The number of services connected to the NBN rose from just over 3 million to nearly 3.5 million in the December quarter, an increase by 14 per cent.

Telstra maintained its overall market share, accounting for 49.3 per cent of all wholesale services supplied over the NBN. Its 55 per cent market share in regional areas compares to times before the NBN rollout when Telstra often had a share of well over 60 per cent. Telstra’s current 43 per cent market share in metropolitan regions is similar to its traditional metropolitan market share.

Click here for the full report: NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report.

Key points from the December report:

NBN Co was supplying a total of 3,467,306 wholesale broadband access services (up from 3,038,483 services in the September quarter).

Demand for network capacity continues to increase with NBN Co contracted to supply a total of 5,385 gigabits per second of CVC capacity (up from 3,452 in the September quarter).

The amount of CVC acquired per user increased to 1.52 megabits per second (up from 1.11 in the September quarter).

There are 27 access seeker groups directly connected to NBN Co’s network. Of these, 5 (Telstra, Optus, TPG Group, Vocus and Aussie Broadband) are connected at all 121 POIs.

The most popular speed tier remains 25Mbps accounting for 54.3 per cent of services.

Notes to editors

The Wholesale Market Indicators Report discloses key information on the number of wholesale access services acquired over the NBN as detailed in the NBN Services in Operation Record Keeping Rule and required under Part XIC of the Competition and Consumer Act (2010).

The report covers the number of NBN services in operation by access technology such as FTTP, FTTB, FTTN, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite. It also covers these services by geographic region, speed tier and traffic class - voice (traffic class 1), business (traffic class 2) and residential broadband (traffic class 4). The report also includes data on the total contracted CVC capacity on the NBN and the number of access seeker groups who directly connect with NBN Co at the NBN points of interconnection.

An NBN wholesale access service is used by an NBN access seeker to supply a retail service directly to its own customers or, alternatively, to supply a wholesale service to another retail service provider.

Some retail service providers, who do not connect directly with NBN Co, only resell NBN services acquired from other NBN access seekers (such as Telstra and Optus). Those RSPs are not separately identified in this report.

The NBN Services in Operation Record Keeping Rule has recently been varied (December 2017) requiring NBN to report more detailed information. This further information will be reported quarterly from 1 January 2018. The content of the NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report is currently under review by the ACCC.

Please note: this release was amended to change the figure for the CVC increase to 37%. The mistake was due to a rounding error. The CVC increased from 1.1 to 1.52 Mbps per user.