MEDIA RELEASE - ACCC BACKS LABOR PROPOSAL TO ADDRESS IN-HOME NBN WIRING ISSUES - 9 AUGUST 2019

09 August 2019

The ACCC has backed the need to address NBN in-home wiring problems, which are degrading the speed and reliability of some Fibre to the Node services.

In the release of its Measuring Broadband Report, the ACCC estimated 12.4 per cent of services never reach plan speeds and are considered to be on underperforming lines. As a proportion of current active fixed-line services, that equates to over half a million Australian households.  
 
The ACCC again explicitly singled out Fibre to the Node as the culprit, and went on to say “In many cases, these limited speeds are caused by in-home wiring issues that can be fixed with a visit from a technician”.
 
This is why Labor outlined a credible plan to have technicians attend and address in-home wiring issues, at no cost to the end user, if an FTTN household was identified as being affected by this problem.
 
Ultimately, this is about improving consumer outcomes.
 
While addressing in-home wiring will not resolve the many known limitations of copper NBN services, it can be targeted towards improving some of the most underperforming services.
 
If the Liberals are worried that acknowledging this problem would inconveniently expose another flaw with their decision to deploy copper, they can rest assured, Australians have long known this is a second-rate NBN.