Should NBN 50 be the cheapest broadband speed tier? ACCAN certainly thinks so

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is calling on NBN Co to scrap NBN 25, the company’s entry-level broadband speed tier, and replace it with faster NBN 50.

In a submission to NBN Co’s 2025 Replacement Module Application, a routine paper that seeks to lay out proposals and changes over the next regulatory cycle (from FY26 to FY29), ACCAN gunned for 25Mbps connections, calling for a medium-term plan from NBN Co to upgrade NBN 25 to NBN 50.

Noting that a minimum service level of 25/5 Mbps is mandated by the Australian Government as an obligation of the NBN across Australia, ACCAN wrote that it “does not consider 25/5 to be a fixed speed and recommends raising the NBN’s Entry-Level Offer to the 50/20 Mbps service”.

“In ACCAN’s view, increasing internet speeds for consumers means raising the baseline quality of service that all Australian consumers can access. While there is certainly capacity for investing in faster internet speeds at the Gigabit level and above, ACCAN cautions NBN Co against pursuing this as a model for cost recovery, as most Australian consumers are unlikely to significantly increase their household expenditure on >2 Gbps speeds for the marginal benefit.”

In NBN Co’s consultation paper, the company said that the 25Mbps speed continues to be exemplary as an entry-level option. Meanwhile, it remains committed to improving speeds and upgrading its network.

In January, NBN Co announced that it wants the last homes serviced by fibre to the node to be upgraded to FTTP by 2030, and come September, 100Mbps max speed plans are set to offer maximum theoretical speeds of 500Mbps. At the same time, 2,000Mbps plans will become available, which ACCAN remains critical of, stating that sufficient justification for such fast plans has not been provided. These speeds are only achievable on the company’s full fibre, hence the upgrades.

Should NBN 25 be replaced by NBN 50?

At the time of writing, switching the fixed-line base speed from NBN 25 to NBN 50 would require a subtle adjustment to speed tier price controls. As the mandated entry-level speed, NBN 25 is enforceably much cheaper than other tiers, and may only increase in price every financial year “by the greater of the annual percentage change in CPI or up to 5%,” according to NBN Co. The entry-level option is set to become more strictly priced under the Special Access Undertaking, with costs unable to increase “by more than the percentage change in CPI each financial year.”

However, NBN Co has said that there are rules that go against making NBN 50 the cheapest offering. As laid out in NBN Co’s consultation paper, an entry-level offer must fit specific criteria: the service has been offered for more than 24 months, is reasonably considered by NBN Co to be NBN’s entry-level service and, has a maximum download speed that is lower than the most ordered speed tier group. As NBN 50 is the most popular speed tier in operation, NBN Co has outlined what this means quite succinctly:

“The 50/20 Mbps speed tier group is the most ordered TC-4 speed tier group at the time of publication of this paper and is forecast to be the most ordered TC-4 speed tier group for FY25. This would mean an Entry Level Offer must be either the 12/1 Mbps or 25/5 Mbps speed tier on each of the nbn fixed-line and fixed wireless networks, as these are the only TC-4 speed tiers which have a maximum download speed less than 50 Mbps and will have been supplied for 24 months as at 1 July 2026.”

Previously, NBN 12/5 was the entry-level offer, but it was grandfathered from this role in 2023 in recognition of growing competition and that it no longer sufficiently satisfied consumer demand.

ACCAN believes that, in recognising that NBN Co wants to increase customers on NBN 100 to 65% by the end of FY2029, steps should be taken to upgrade the entry-level speed.

“ACCAN is concerned that NBN Co’s current approach will entrench a two-tier digital divide among Australian households. We therefore recommend NBN Co reconsider its current approach to expand higher speeds for all service levels,” the advocacy organisation wrote.

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