NBN Co starts talking about 2Gbps plans

NBN Co will fast-track industry discussions about multi-gigabit services, proposing three new 2Gbps products for home and business users in the fibre and HFC footprints.

The network operator had already been discussing some changes to its current three top-tier products that would see them become 500Mbps, 750Mbps and up to gigabit.

But it said “feedback from internet retailers” had led it to expand those conversations to introduce a new tier above the current gigabit limit.

NBN Co had been planning to hold discussions on multi-gigabit speeds “in the second half of this year” but said it had now brought that forward.

Multi-gigabit speeds are being given the branding ‘hyperfast’. They are proposed to include a 2000/200Mbps service on FTTP, a 2000/100Mbps service for HFC, and a 2000/500Mbps service for business fibre users.

To enable these speeds, new in-premises equipment - a network termination device or NTD - will be required.

NBN Co is proposing to use a “slimline, single-port NTD, which has the technical capability to accommodate future speeds up to 2.5 Gbps” for residential users, “and a new, four-port model, which has the technical capability to accommodate future speeds up to 10Gbps” for businesses.

One of the questions raised in the consultation with industry is timing.

Specifically, NBN Co wants to know if multi-gigabit services should launch at the same time as sub-gigabit speeds are boosted, or if the launches should be one after the other.

However, it appears that the earliest any multi-gigabit plans would emerge is in “FY25” - which would mean at least mid-to-late this year.

“We are happy to explore how and when the NBN network could deliver wholesale download speeds of 2Gbps to eligible residential and business customers,” chief customer officer Anna Perrin said in a statement.

“Our consultation with retailers is providing them with line-of-sight to a multi-gigabit future, enabling them to prepare their products and customer services to meet the growing need for speed amongst residential, business and enterprise customers.”

Ultrafast upload boost

NBN Co flagged the possibility that a change to the speed range of its up to gigabit ‘ultrafast’ product could now come with a higher upload speed.

“Today, NBN Co confirmed that it would be feasible to double the upload speed of this product (rather than providing an upload speed range) and is now proposing to accelerate ‘home ultrafast’ to deliver wholesale speeds of ~1000/100 Mbps,” it said in a statement.