Australians pay $84 a month for their internet. Why so expensive, and what can be done to lower the cost?
Australians are paying an average of $84 per month for internet access on the NBN – and in a cost-of-living crisis, questions are being raised about why cheaper internet is not available for people on lower incomes.What could be done to lower NBN pricing plans, and can we learn from overseas?According to the latest report, about 8.6m of the 12.5m premises able to connect to the NBN are now using the service in Australia.Consumer advocacy group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (Accan’s) latest survey conducted by Essential, of 1,065 people, found Australians are paying $84 per month on average for their home internet connection, with 31% paying between $81 and $100, 30% paying between $61 and $80, 20% paying over $100, and just 13% paying $60 or under (with the rest unsure).
The survey also found 74% of those who use less than 50GB per month are still paying over $60 per month, with an average bill of $71.These figures include not just NBN connections but other services that compete with the NBN, such as TPG’s services, as well as 5G home internet which has been offered at rates lower than prices people pay in the NBN.The survey found 18% would be prepared to pay more for higher speeds, while 68% said the price being paid was adequate for the speeds they get.Lower speeds would be acceptable for a reduced cost, 14% of respondents said.The NBN is a government-owned company with billions invested in rolling out the network over the past 15 years.
Successive governments have argued that NBN should make a return on taxpayer investment, and wholesale prices are set to a level for NBN to achieve a rate of return,That pricing model, when adding on the retailer costs, has meant that prices – particularly for higher speed plans – are higher than some argue they should be,Of those who responded to the survey, 69% supported a concessional broadband offering, with 34% strongly supportive and 35% somewhat supportive,“Too many Australians are forced to choose between staying connected and paying for essentials like food or rent,That’s not good enough.
Let’s make Australia a leader in digital inclusion and ensuring no Australian is left offline, Accan chief executive, Carol Bennett, said.The federal government has paid for home internet for about 23,000 homes with school-age students across the country, in a scheme that was recently expanded out to 2028, with up to 30,000 places available.The Labor government has so far resisted calls for cheaper NBN pricing, concession or otherwise.The focus for the government has been on upgrading premises to full fibre-to-the-home connections in many places, in a bid to undo the multi-technology mix model rolled out by the former Coalition government that left homes with subpar download speeds.The Coalition has not yet announced any policies around the NBN, except recently stating a Coalition government would not privatise the government-owned network.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletterThe United States ran an affordable broadband initiative that provided up to US$30 per month to eligible households that ended in 2024 due to Congress not approving additional funding,A study commissioned by a wireless internet company argued the cost of the program was offset by the healthcare, education and workforce productivity gains seen as a result,The Connecting Families Initiative in Canada offers services of C$10 or C$20 per month for basic broadband of up to 50Mbps download speeds and 200GB of monthly data,Bennett said Australia would not be treading new ground if the country followed,“The benefits of affordable broadband are clear – better health, better education, better engagement in work and employment, and stronger communities.
We’re asking the government to seize this opportunity.We would be following international success stories.“Our call follows mounting international evidence showing that affordable broadband isn’t just good policy – it’s good economics.”
Tories and Reform use the steel crisis to knock clean energy. They’re wrong: it will secure all our futures| Ed Miliband
The world feels more uncertain and unpredictable just now than at any time in my political lifetime. For Britain – in our values, our approach and our consistency – we owe it to today’s and future generations to be the port in the storm. Nowhere is that more true than on energy and climate. The decisions we take today will shape not just the years ahead but the generations ahead.That is why it is so important that Keir Starmer set out more than three years ago his mission for Britain to become a clean energy superpower
Cutting business ties with China would be ‘foolish’, Reeves says amid reports of US pressure
Rachel Reeves has dismissed the idea of economically disengaging from China, amid concerns the US may put pressure on the UK to limit its deals with Beijing.The chancellor, who will discuss a trade deal with the US on a trip to Washington next week, said it would be “very foolish” for Britain to have less involvement with Xi Jinping’s administration.The Wall Street Journal reported this week that US officials would attempt to use trade deals and tariff discussions to economically isolate China.Keir Starmer spoke to Donald Trump on Friday about the “ongoing and productive discussions” over a trade deal. It was the first conversation between the British prime minister and the US president since the imposition of 10% tariffs by Washington
Labour MPs urge Starmer to ‘get out there’ with Trump-style media strategy
Senior Labour figures are urging Keir Starmer to take a leaf out of Donald Trump’s book and make more frequent media appearances in an attempt to dominate the political agenda as the US president does.MPs told the Guardian they want the prime minister to act more like Trump, who has upended political convention by televising large parts of his cabinet, holding long bilateral meetings on camera and calling in to live television shows.The strategy is very different from that employed by the prime minister, who has said he wants politics to intrude less in people’s lives, and sometimes goes several days without doing a public appearance.Some in his party believe that Starmer’s safety-first approach to media is ill-suited to modern politics, where the news agenda moves rapidly and traditional outlets have less power than ever.One minister said: “Trump and [the vice-president] JD Vance have shown the advantage of getting out there and not worrying about making mistakes
‘We need to get back to British’: concern over immigration in Doncaster before local elections
“You can’t fix the system with the same hands that broke it,” Richie Vallance shouted through a megaphone from his mobility scooter. “Let’s make Doncaster Doncaster again,” he yelled at passersby in the city centre, who mostly politely ignored him.Vallance is standing as an independent candidate for mayor in the local elections on 1 May, when all 55 seats on the city’s council will also be up for grabs. The small South Yorkshire city is a key battleground that will be a test of Labour’s resilience in the face of rising public support for Reform UK.Nigel Farage’s party is surging ahead in the polls and in Doncaster there is a good chance it will wrestle control from Labour, which has been in power for nearly 50 years
Reeves to make case for trade deal in first meeting with US treasury secretary
Rachel Reeves will fly to Washington next week to meet her American counterpart for the first time, as the British government looks to intensify negotiations over a UK-US trade deal.The chancellor will be in the US from Tuesday to Friday for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund. At the heart of her visit, though, will be talks with the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, whom British officials regard as one of their most likely allies in negotiating a deal.With Donald Trump talking about coming to the UK for a state visit in September, officials are increasingly hopeful they can agree tariff reductions in the coming months or even weeks.The US president and Keir Starmer spoke to each other by phone on Friday afternoon, with trade top of the agenda
Green party candidate tries to evict Labour opponent from property
A Green party council candidate is attempting to evict his Labour opponent from a house he owns using a no-fault notice, despite his party supporting a ban on exactly such kinds of eviction.William Pedley, who is standing for the Greens in the Victoria ward of North Northamptonshire council, has served a section 21 notice on his tenant and political rival Kelly Duddridge, who has lived in the property for 10 years.Duddridge remains in the property but says the threat of eviction has caused her and her family significant stress, while Labour has accused Pedley of hypocrisy given his party’s opposition to no-fault evictions. Other Green party politicians have been accused of showing hypocrisy by calling for more clean energy while opposing solar farms and electricity pylons in their local areas.Duddridge told the Guardian: “I am trying not to think about having to move away from the house
Do those so-called US recession indicators actually mean anything? | Gene Marks
Jim Ratcliffe’s chemicals business under pressure from Trump tariffs, Moody’s warns
Labour must focus on risk to global financial stability posed by Trump policies, not only trade | Heather Stewart
Another crisis, another IMF summit: but unlike 2008, the delegates are disunited
‘It might be gutted’ – Boots braces for dose of private equity’s bitter medicine
It’s not poverty that’s breeding the new populism. It’s wealth | Phillip Inman