NBN Co says its ‘Focus on Fast’ campaign is designed to help Internet retailers encourage more customers to take-up higher speed plans that aim to deliver a better home Internet experience by offering additional data inclusions and wholesale pricing rebates on higher speed tiers and extra CVC capacity credits to retailers.

As part of the campaign, NBN Co says it is working to bring forward the release of additional CVC data inclusions on its 100/40 Mbps, NBN Home Fast, Home Superfast and Home Ultrafast bundle discounts so they are available from 1 December 2020 for those retailers who enter into the fourth version of NBN Co’s Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA4).

“As a sales and upgrade incentive, NBN Co also proposes to offer wholesale pricing rebates to Internet retailers from 1 February 2021, which will be applicable for up to six months,” the company said.

“The rebates are being planned to effectively offer additional discounts to Internet retailers for upgrades to the 50 Mbps speed tier and certain key bundle discounts, including 100/40 Mbps, nbn Home Fast, nbn Home Superfast and nbn Home Ultrafast plans.

“These changes are in addition to NBN Co’s proposed reduction in the effective charge of the 12/1 Mbps modified entry level bundle discount (mELB). The wholesale price of the 12/1 Mbps mELB will be reduced from $27.40 to $26.60 in October 2020, followed by further proposed reductions under WBA4 in December to $24.70, and a final reduction in May 2021 to $22.50.”

NBN Co says that to assist eligible Internet retailers’ transition to the additional data inclusions and pricing rebates, it will continue to essentially offer Internet retailers some additional CVC capacity at no extra cost.

“The COVID-19 CVC Credit that has been available to internet retailers since March 2020 will start to taper from that offer’s expiration on 30 November 2020,” NBN Co said.

“When the COVID-19 CVC Credit offer expires on 30 November, NBN Co is planning to offer a transition credit to eligible internet retailers for two months. NBN Co will look at the amount by which an RSP’s CVC charges set out in the invoice issued at the beginning of the September 2020 billing period exceed their respective CVC charges set out in the invoice issued at the beginning of the February 2020 billing period.

“The transition credit will be 75% of this amount in December 2020 and 50% of this amount in January 2021. This will be applicable to fixed line, fixed wireless and Sky Muster satellite services.

“NBN Co’s tapering of COVID-19 CVC Credit offer to Internet retailers recognises that peak data demand is returning to normal forecast levels of growth.

“NBN Co will also enable Internet retailers to transition away from the temporary COVID Sky Muster offer, which increased the wholesale peak download data offer from average 45 GB to average 90 GB, until 31 March 2021. This is intended to provide retailers with flexibility in how they implement the rollback of temporary COVID offers.”

According to NBN Co, the combination of its initiatives introduced throughout 2020 has contributed to “an overall improvement in the download speeds experienced by most nbn customers.

“In August 2020, broadband monitoring company cable.co.uk released analysis based on over 364 million broadband speed tests, which showed an average drop in speed of 6.38 per cent across 114 countries that had lockdowns in place. Australia was one of only a handful of countries to improve its internet speed during lockdown, with a gain of 5.38 per cent,” NBN Co said.

NBN Co says detailed terms and conditions on its Focus On Fast campaign — together with incentives — are being worked through and will be made available to the industry soon.

“We are pleased to support Internet retailers and their customers during the pandemic as more people work, study and stream entertainment content at home,” said NBN Co Chief Customer Officer, Brad Whitcomb.

“The NBN network continues to perform well and by offering the additional COVID-19 CVC Credit to internet retailers at no extra cost for nine months, we have provided an important shock absorber to the industry. This has given Internet retailers time to adjust to growth in data demand.

“Increasing numbers of customers are choosing to upgrade to higher speed plans, and these measures provide additional value and incentives for retailers to help customers to upgrade to higher speed plans that may be better suited to their needs.

“Higher speed bundle discounts come with more CVC inclusions, which helps deliver improved performance for those customers while also adding to the pool of included CVC capacity that is available for retailers to utilise across their entire customer base.

“The offers we are working to introduce on 1 December 2020 play to the increasing strength and capabilities of the national broadband network to meet customer demand for higher speed services.

“To provide the industry with greater cost certainty over the critical summer holiday period, and to assist the transition to our new CVC inclusions and wholesale pricing rebates, we will continue to provide eligible retailers with some continued CVC financial support through December and January.

“The underlying trend that sees organic growth in data demand doubling every four years will require an industry-wide response, and we will commence our annual consultation with internet retailers early in 2021.”