Nbn Co sought feedback on the second consultation paper of its wholesale pricing review. Earlier in 2021, ACCAN provided feedback to its first consultation paper.

In our response to nbn Co’s second consultation paper ACCAN explained that we would not like to see wholesale costs for residential customers increase, due to the flow on impact that wholesale price increases can have on consumers. As such, in our response ACCAN supported:

• The decision to provide additional variable capacity (CVC – Connectivity Virtual Circuit) with no increase to the wholesale charge for most wholesale speed tiers.
• The decision to reduce the CVC TC-4 List price by 10% (this wholesale item is mainly used when retail service providers (RSPs) purchase capacity for satellite services).
• The proposal of a soft cap, aimed at reducing RSP risk and management costs by providing additional CVC at no extra cost when RSPs meet certain eligibility criteria.

Whilst ACCAN supports the soft cap, we are concerned that the eligibility criteria may have unintended consequences, such as making it harder for RSPs to compete.

In the second consultation paper, nbn Co suggested introducing a low-income offering as part of nbn’s regulatory framework – the SAU (Special Access Undertaking). Whilst there is benefit to having the product included in the SAU framework, ACCAN considers that nbn Co should continue to bring the low-income offering to market via the Product Development Forum as this would bring more immediate relief to households struggling to afford the cost of their broadband service.

Download:  ACCAN submission to NBN Pricing consultation no.2820.82 KB
Download:  ACCAN submission to NBN Pricing consultation no.2199.56 KB