Comments from Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman:
“Today Minister Rowland has announced proposed changes to NBN plans that wouldn’t actually be introduced for another 12 months.
“NBN says the upgrade would come at ‘no extra wholesale cost to retailers’ – but what about the cost to consumers?
“NBN sells its service to retailers, who then sell the product to consumers. The Minister must explain, is the Government saying there will be no increased costs to consumers, and that the planned upgrades will actually be ‘free’?
“The NBN is already losing customers outside of its Greenfields (existing properties) business. In 2023, the NBN lost more than 40,000 customers outside of Greenfields. Any increase to the cost of plans will make the NBN less competitive compared to other options such as 5G. Its satellite service is also losing customers to Starlink.
“In the six months to December 2023, the NBN had negative cashflow of $1.06B. This was up by $400M compared to the same period in 2022.
“Minister Rowland must explain the financial impact to taxpayers of this latest change to NBN’s plans.”