One million more homes and businesses to be eligible for NBN fibre upgrades

Eager for a faster NBN plan, but limited by your current connection type? As part of its ongoing upgrade program, NBN Co has announced the latest round of suburbs where homes and businesses will be eligible to receive a full fibre upgrade.

One million additional homes and businesses have been added to the rollout to provide upgraded fibre connections and therefore enable more premises to access faster NBN speeds, with up to 58% of these locations in regional areas. This upgrade rollout has been underway for a couple of years and has also seen a recent $2.4 billion investment boost from the Australian Government.

Homes or businesses connected to the NBN with an Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) or Fibre to the Node (FTTN) connection, if eligible, will be able to upgrade their NBN connection to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP). A FTTP connection to your home or business can enable you to access the faster NBN speeds tiers currently offered.

Kathrine Dyer, Chief Operating Officer at NBN said, “We are unlocking social and economic benefits across Australia by pushing fibre deeper into communities. Fibre is inherently more capable of delivering faster upload and download speeds, is generally more reliable than copper connections and reduces our ongoing maintenance and operating costs.”

“So far, we have identified the suburbs and towns across Australia where customers living and working in around three million premises currently served by NBN Fibre to the Node will be able to access full fibre upgrades by the end of 2025.”

NBN Co has been adding more suburbs to this upgrade list of the past couple of years, with 160 suburbs added to the upgrade list back in October 2022. This continued upgrade program will see up to 10 million premises — or up to 90% of homes and businesses — able to access NBN’s fastest speeds by the end of 2025.

Shifts in how homes and businesses use the internet show need for faster speeds

The way we use the internet, both at home and for businesses, has been changing. The rise of high-intensity activities such as video streaming and online gaming have created a need for faster internet speeds, but even the past few years have shown a further shift in our behaviours.

Research commissioned by NBN Co has seen a rise in online health consultations by 147%, along with a growing number of people using their home internet for work and schooling purposes. The same research has also found that more businesses require faster speeds and more data for video conferencing and for cloud-based storage.

Canstar Blue Utilities Editor, Tara Donnelly says that while the peak demands on the NBN have decreased from where they were several years ago, the need for faster speeds has not gone away.

“The last couple of years have shown how essential fast and reliable internet is to Australians homes and businesses. And while the demands on the NBN have decreased since the 2020 peak period, many users continue to work or study from home, in addition to using their connection for entertainment,” she said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has tracked this thirst for faster speeds in its NBN market reports, with its last report released in December 2022, showing increases in customers signing up to faster NBN speeds, with 115,000 customers signing up to a plan on the NBN 100/20 speed tier. In comparison, the number of customers on slower NBN 12 and NBN 25 plans decreased.

“NBN Co’s expanding fibre upgrades will give another million addresses the option to access much faster speeds. While not every family or business will decide to move to a high-speed plan, giving customers a wider choice of plans will help future-proof the network — and deliver on the promised FTTP-based design announced back in 2009,” said Ms Donnelly.

How do I get an NBN upgrade?

This latest round of suburbs eligible for an upgrade join a long list of other locations that have been made eligible in the past few years. With the larger portion of regional areas added to the upgrade program, it’s also a big plus for country communities that may not have had access to the same speeds or services as those living in more populated metro areas.

Areas included in this latest round of the upgrade program include Campbelltown, Cooma, Dubbo, Figtree, Jindabyne, Katoomba, Orange, Rhodes and Terrigal in NSW; Bright, Daylesford, Echuca, Mornington, North Melbourne, South Geelong and Torquay in Victoria; along with Bundaberg Central, Capalaba, Emerald, Maroochydore, Redbank and Southport in Queensland.

These areas only scratch the surface of the extensive list of suburbs and towns that have been added to the upgrade program, with areas from all states and territories taking part in this latest upgrade. You can view the full list of areas on the NBN Co website.

If your area is on the upgrade list, all you need to do is check your address on the NBN Co website’s upgrade checker. If your address is eligible for a fibre upgrade, you can then place an order through a participating NBN provider to sign up to a faster speed tier.

Customers with an FTTN (Fibre to the Node) connection will need to sign up to a Home Fast (NBN 100) plan or higher, while customers with an FTTC (Fibre to the Curb) connection will need to sign up to a Home Superfast (NBN 250) plan or higher. This upgrade will only be available through a selection of participating NBN providers, which includes Aussie Broadband, Dodo, Flip, Optus, Southern Phone, Superloop, Tangerine and Telstra. The full list of participating providers can be viewed on the NBN Co website.

Related: NBN Connection Types: What NBN connection do I have?

Compare NBN plans

Whether you’re looking to switch to a new NBN provider now or down the track, there are plenty of NBN plans and providers to choose from. The below table compares a range of plans on popular speed tiers — switch between the tabs to see plans on the different speed tiers.