Don’t get caught lagging
NBN Co has today released its end of year financial results. Alongside posting an increase in revenue, the results reveal a surge in upgrades to the fibre to the premises (FTTP) connection type, finally overtaking the previously most common – and inferior – fibre to the node (FTTN) connection technology.
Specifically, NBN Co says there are now 2.66 million active FTTP connections in Australia, compared to 2.17 million as at June 30, 2024. Conversely, FTTN connections have seen a steady decline over the same period, going from just over 2.78 million at the end of FY 2024 to approximately 2.5 million at the time of writing.
Why is that so interesting and important? It’s because FTTP connections offer access to the fastest NBN plans and it’s the only connection type available to customers who currently connect via copper-based technology and want to take advantage of the free NBN speed upgrades arriving in September.
Premises that connect fibre hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) technology are also able to take advantage of the incoming speed boosts, but the technology is available as an upgrade option for those on copper-based infrastructure.Why the need for a speed upgrade?
If this is the first time you’re hearing of the proposed speed upgrades, then in short, homes that connect to the fixed-line NBN network via FTTP or HFC will be able to access brand new NBN 500, NBN 750 and NBN 2000 plans from September, which are joining the current NBN 1000 tier (which is seeing an increase to its minimum speed) to provide a suite of super fast wired internet options.
