The latest report from Akamai again demonstrates the need to complete the rollout of the nbn™ network as soon as possible. nbn reiterates the importance of understanding what the report is detailing, which is average speeds delivered at a point in time across 10 million services most of which are old ADSL services, not the actual speeds the nbn™ network can deliver.

nbn is connecting new users at the fastest rate yet ever seen in Australia. With more than 4.2 million homes able to order a service over the nbn™ network and 1.8 million having signed up already, nbn is moving at an ever increasing pace. Currently more than 23,000 new homes are signing up and connecting to a service over the nbn™ network each week. This is up from 10,700 homes per week last year.

The Akamai report does demonstrate the positive impact nbn is having over time.

In just over three years, the number of active end users on the nbn™ network has gone from less than one per cent of households to more than 15 per cent connected. Over the same period, average speeds measured by Akamai have more than doubled. In Akamai’s first quarter report in 2013, the average speed delivered in Australia was 4.7 Megabits per second, while today’s report for the fourth quarter 2016 shows the average speed delivered of 10.1 Megabits per second.

With almost two million homes and businesses now accessing fast broadband over the nbn™ network, and multiple thousands more connecting every day, we expect average speeds delivered to improve.

It is important to clarify that average speeds delivered and measured by Akamai are limited by consumers’ purchasing behaviour and retailer network dimensioning. Today, eighty per cent of premises in Australia are ordering an nbn speed tier of 25 Megabits per second or less. We expect this to increase over time as both consumer demand and applications requiring faster broadband grow.

Australia is now 51st in the world in terms of average connection speeds delivered at 10.1 Megabits per second, which is a 24 per cent increase year on year.

Media enquiries

Media Hotline Phone: 02 9927 4200 media@nbnco.com.au

For more information, visit www.nbn.com.au